It Can't Rain Forever
by FallenAngel520
Summary: She was 17 years young, ready to start her senior year in high school. She had her entire life planned out; Too bad life doesn't care about your plan. Mia finds herself living in Forks, Washington after a terrible accident. EmmettXOC Follows Plot.
1. Chapter OneIntro: New Beginnings

**A/N: This is my first Twilight story being published to FanFiction so I hope you all enjoy it. I'm going to post up the first few chapters all at once and see how the reception is, I would love some feedback, but no pressure. It may be slow goings in the beginning, but it gets better. (And it won't be so angsty for very long) :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter One/Intro: New Beginnings**

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><p>She was 17 years young, ready to start her senior year in high school. She had her entire life planned out; she was going to the University of California Los Angeles to study Psychology with one year of studying abroad in Ireland. But as always, nothing in life ever goes according to plan. Because life doesn't care about your plan.<p>

Mia's plans change at 9:04 pm on August 9th. It was her parent's twentieth wedding anniversary. Shortly after nine o'clock while she was watching a movie whose name she can no longer remember, a State Trooper knocked on the front door to inform her that her parents had been in a head on collision on their way home. Mia's dad was pronounced dead on the scene while her mother died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The perfect world Mia had been accustomed too was about to change, her walls crumbled in and she was forced to start life a new, whether she wanted to or not. The funeral was held four days later and the majority of her family showed up despite the fact that most of them lived on the East coast, primarily to discuss custody.

Mia's Aunt Jenna who lived in Northern Washington volunteered to take her in since she had yet to be married and had no kids of her own. She was Mia's father's younger sister at 28 years of age; Jenna just graduated from medical school and worked at the hospital in Forks. A day after the funeral, Jenna helped her to finish packing her things and load them into a small sized moving van that would take it to her house. Mia slipped into her bright red, two door car and buckled her seatbelt in silence while listening to her IPod.

"Is there any place or anyone you want to see before we leave?" Jenna inquired in a soft voice as her car purred to life.

Mia could barely hear her over the sound of her music playing in her ears, so she merely shook her head in reply and adverted her eyes outside the window. Mia hadn't spoken one word to any of her friends before getting into Jenna's car that afternoon, since the day of the accident.

They would all be saying the same thing along the lines of, _I'm sorry for your loss_ and _too bad you have to go live up North with your aunt_. Mia had already heard too much of that, and felt as though she didn't need to hear any more of it. Not only that, but the longer it took to get out of California, the more hesitant she would be to leave.

The pair only stopped once along the way to their destination, other than to fill up on gas, and that was in Port Angeles in Washington. It was just after seven and it was clear that they had missed the rush hour eating time, because there weren't too many people in the restaurant. "You're going to love Forks, Mia. It's no Sacramento, though." Jenna said as she took a menu from the older woman who had her light brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail while she waited to take their drink orders. "Sweet tea for me, please."

"I'll just have water, thanks." Mia told the waitress without looking at her, her eyes were transfixed on the menu in front of her. Though Mia wasn't hungry in the slightest, Jenna was forcing her to eat since she hadn't touched the snacks they brought along for the trip all day.

"It's absolutely beautiful in the winter time with all the snow." She gushed lovingly. Winter time was always her favorite season because of the snow.

Mia lifted her head to lock her emerald green eyes with Jenna's clear blue eyes before stating bluntly, "I hate the snow. It's cold and wet."

Jenna sighed and shook her head ever so slightly before deciding to change the subject quickly. "School starts Monday. I already registered you and everything so that's taken care of. We can take a tour of the school the day before it starts so you won't get lost, it's small but you'll like it."

"When will I be able to convert my license to a Washington state one from California?" Mia asked, resting the menu down onto the table.

"As soon as you want I suppose." Jenna was caught off guard and startled by the sudden question. "We can go to the license bureau which is attached to the court house and police station when you get settled in to your new home."

The waitress quickly returned with their drinks, which ended the conversation built primarily on small talk. Mia ordered a small house salad with ranch dressing on the side while Jenna ordered a double cheeseburger with a side of fries. They said no more to each other during the meal or after they returned to the car, so time seemed to stand still in the silence between then.

It was after ten pm by the time Mia and her aunt entered Forks, Washington and pulled up into her two car driveway. The moving van, which was also pulling her Jeep, was parked out front on the side of the road with two movers waiting inside. "Take a look around, I'm going to talk to the guys." Jenna spoke as she handed over her keychain.

Mia slowly moved up the four steps and sifted through each key, trying to get it through the lock until one fit. Mia turned on a light and dropped her set of keys on a glass side table that was to the right of the door. The living room branched off directly to the right upon entering the house and the dining room was straight ahead. The kitchen was to the left and to the right were a large bedroom and a flight of stairs.

The young woman dragged her feet up the stairs where she encountered three closed doors. Behind two of them there were two bedrooms, the other had a medium sized full bathroom. "Your bedroom is the first door on the right upstairs." Jenna called from downstairs. "I'm having them bring your stuff up."

"Okay." Mia breathed as she descended the stairs in order to be out of the way. Mia began to further analyze the different rooms that made up her _home_.

The living room was filled with a three part sectional sofa that was comprised of leather, with a single standing chair, a flat panel television pressed against the far wall opposite of the couch, and two white bookshelves on either side. The dining room had two glass china cabinets filled with collectible dolls and dinning wear, the centerpiece was a dark oak table that seated four with cushioned seats. The walls to the kitchen were painted a deep red and matched many of her appliances, nothing stood out much about the kitchen, other than the electric stove- it was pretty average.

"What's the verdict?" Jenna asked, draping her arm over her niece's shoulder.

"It'll do." Mia attempted to joke and nodded, she forced a small smile while wondering how Jenna could live alone, wondering if she ever got lonely. This immediately made her think about how she was now left alone in the world without parents. Hot tears filled Mia's eyes and slowly over flowed and streamed down her face.

Jenna quickly noticed this and pulled her into a tight hug. "Shhh. It's okay. Everything will get better; it can't rain forever, dear. The storm will pass." She soothed while stroking Mia's long blond Thanks for reading :) Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think, thanks!hair. And for a moment in her arms, the large gaping hole in her chest cavity was filled an inch. Forks was exactly what Mia would need.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading :) Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think, thanks!<strong>


	2. Chapter Two: Fresh Meat

**A/N: This chapter is a little lengthy (Close to 4,500 words) due to all that had to be introduced at one time. Anyway... Enjoy! :]**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Fresh Meat<strong>

"Mia, honey. Wake up it's your first day of school." Jenna gently shook Mia awake, out of her dreamless state. The past few days crept by as she forced herself to stay busy by arranging her new room and then re-arranging it when she found herself thinking of her parents. And now, it was time for that fresh start Jenna had been gushing about.

"I made you breakfast it's downstairs on the table. I have to get to the hospital, so don't fall back asleep alright. Remember school starts at 8:10." She pressed her soft lips against Mia's temple and quickly fleeted out of the room and down the stairs.

A heavy sigh fell from Mia's lips as she rolled out of the warm spot on her bed. Mia glanced at the clock that rested on a nightstand by the bed and realized that she had a little over and hour to get ready. She trudged down the carpeted stairs and made her way into the dining room where a steaming plate of eggs, bacon, and toast rested. Mia nibbled on the toast and pushed the eggs around on the plate before throwing what was left into the trash and resting her plate in the empty sink.

Mia grabbed a pair of dark colored jeans and two tank tops out of her closet, one red and one blue, before making her way into the bathroom. Mia turned the water on and examined her features in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and slightly red, but other than that she was satisfied with her appearance. Twenty minutes later, Mia slipped into her clothing of choice and ran a brush through her wet hair as she pulled it up into a ponytail- leaving her bangs sweeping across her face.

Mia clicked the light off in the bathroom and grabbed her simple all white backpack from beside the bedroom door. Mia glanced at the clock in the living room as she moved to snatch her keys off the glass coffee table; it read 7:45 am in blue digital lettering. Her jacket was laying over the arm rest of the single chair with a blue sticky note on it. It read; _You may need this, it's raining out. Have a good day at school. _

She slipped the light purple jacket on over her shoulders and turned out the rest of the lights before exiting the house. When Jenna said it was raining she didn't mention that it was raining cats and dogs outside. Mia flipped the hood up and jogged out to her silver Jeep and hopped in quickly, throwing her bag into the passenger seat.

"Great start to the day." Mia breathed to herself while starting up the vehicle.

The song _Since You've Been Gone _by Theory of a Deadman, began playing as soon as the radio came to life, causing Mia's hand to immediately fly to the radio, turning it off within second. "Not this early." Mia sighed as she began to pull out of the shortened driveway.

By the time she pulled into the Forks High School parking lot, several students had already arrived and were hanging out in their cars as if they were waiting for the rain to stop. Mia stopped the car and locked the doors after getting out. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and took a deep breath, starting for building three where her first class was, Trigonometry.

As Mia made her way past cars with people sitting in them they curiously turned their heads to look at her, stopping what they were doing to stare for a moment. This only made Mia feel more self-conscious and forced her to pick up her already quick pace until she entered the Math building. Mia glanced down at the crumbled schedule in her hand and discovered that she was to be searching for Mr. O'Brians classroom.

His room was the third door on the left, Mia examined how empty the halls were before glancing down at the simple watch she wore on her left hand, there were five minutes left before anyone else would even be thinking of entering the school. Mia silently slipped into the empty room and took a seat in the back of the fourth row, to the far left by the windows.

Mia grabbed a mechanical pencil out from her purse and a dark blue notebook from her backpack and sat them on her desk so she would have something to do. Until the bell rang, Mia wrote Trigonometry in bubble letters across the notebook's cover. Steadily the empty room began to fill with curious students, who chatted loudly with the friends they had been separated with for so long. In no time the seats around Mia were filled, whether it was because she was new or because everyone wanted the back, it didn't really matter much to her.

"I'm Mike Newton, welcome to Forks." Spoke a boy with what could be described as a baby face, with light blue eyes to match and dark, sandy blonde hair. He appeared to be a year younger than her for being in Trig.

"Mia Clarence." Mia stated softly after a moment. "And thank you." She adverted her eyes to the front of the class room but was startled when a large form blocked the majority of her already small view; she let out a defeated sigh and glanced down at her desk nonchalantly.

As it turned out, Mike Newton wasn't ready to end the conversation. "So, where did you move from?"

"Sacramento, California." Mia responded quickly, not interested in talking.

"I've been there before," Mike stated proudly, "That's where the Golden Gate Bridge is right? It's pretty awesome looking."

Mia had to force herself to keep from rolling her green eyes at him, the kid needed to brush up on his geography. "The Golden Gate Bridge is in San Francisco, not in Sacramento. There's about a four hour difference." Mia politely corrected him in the best way she could.

"Man I'd kill to live in California." Someone in front of Mike chimed in. "It hardly rains there and it doesn't get as cold."Too bad you had to move here to Forks. That sucks."

"Tell me about it." Mia whispered under her breath.

Mike opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the booming voice of Mr. O'Brian, when he began to speak. "Welcome back students, I trust everyone had an enjoyable summer vacation." He got mixed replies before cutting in. "Let's do roll call to make sure everyone is in the right place."

"Jayson. Malory. Mike. Jannelle. Eddie. Alex. Jamie. Susan. Alyssa. Emmett. Zane." After every name he paused so the student had a chance to answer. "And last but certainly not least, Mia Clarence."

"Here." Mia answered, moving her head to the right so he could see her around the guy who was sitting in front of her.

Mr. O'Brian chuckled loudly. "Welcome to Forks, Mia. Would you like to trade places with Emmett so you can see?" The boy in front of her immediately rose from his seat, revealing his massive size. He was about six foot five inches with short brown hair and golden colored eyes that stood out against his milky, pale skin.

Mia gathered up her things, murmured a _thanks _under her breath and sat down in her new seat. "Isn't that better?" Mr. O'Brian mused happily. "Now if the first person in each row will get a Trig book for everyone in the row we can get started.

By the time each student in the room received a book, they only had enough time to write their names in them and go over class expectations before the bell rang, releasing them to go to their next class. "Hey, what's your next class?"

Mia pulled her schedule out of her back pocket and looked it over quickly before replying back to Zane, the guy who now sat in front of her. "Psychology." He had dark black hair, deep blue eyes and a toned body which was apparent through the tight clothing he was wearing.

"Really? Same here." Zane replied, obviously fascinated by such a discovery. "We can walk to class together."

"Do we have the same teachers?" Mia questioned, her eyes searched the halls and analyzed the mass groups of people who were hanging out by lockers, though she wasn't quite sure what she was looking for. An escape perhaps?

Zane laughed loudly, opening the door to the outside of the building for her, "There's only one Psych teacher here. If you haven't noticed, Forks isn't big enough to have more than one teacher for a given subject."

"Oh." Mia sighed, wishing that she wouldn't have said anything.

"You seem like a really nice girl and I'd like to get to know you better, let's say. . . over dinner Friday?" Zane proposed, following Mia into the psych room of the science department.

She sat her stuff down on the table in the back and Zane sat his down next to Mia's. She sucked in a large breath and fought for some excuse, Mia didn't think she was ready for anything like that quite yet. "Actually, Friday I think I'm going to be doing something with my aunt." She let the lie flow easily from her lips.

"That's cool. I like a challenge." Zane flashed Mia a small smirk.

"Everyone settle down and take a seat please. I have made an assigned seating chart so do get too comfortable where you are. I'm Mr. Crane, and I believe we have a student who is new to the district, she can introduce herself after we all get settled into our new homes." The teacher explained in a loud voice so he could be heard over the dozens of side conversations.

A sigh escaped Mia's lips, why did teachers always have you introduce yourself to a room full of strangers? Mr. Crane cleared his throat and began pointing to the table in the front of the room first. "Zane Thomas and Rosalie Hale first desk. Next, Mia Clarence and Jasper Hale."

Mia pulled her backpack back onto her shoulders and moved to her new seat in the front of the room by the door. "Hi." Mia spoke softly to the guy perched next to her in attempt to not look completely anti-social.

"Hi." Jasper replied kindly. His face was tense and almost pained not to mention he had the same deep bronze eye color as Emmett, within a shade or two, it was something she had never seen before.

"Are you related to Rosalie, you have the same last name and I was just curious?" Mia explained when she felt her cheeks heat up, she felt as though she needed a reason to be prying into his life since this just could have been a coincidence.

Jasper nodded. "She's my sister."

Mia stole a glance over at her and she was already looking back at her, probably keeping an eye on her brother. Mia gave her a weak smile which she didn't return. Her blonde hair was perfect and her facial construction was perfect. She was _perfect_. "She is so pretty." Mia mused quietly to herself.

"Yeah you are." Another guy commented, stepping to the side of her desk, obstructing Mia's view of the blond beauty.

Mia felt her cheeks flush with heat; she wasn't use to the amount of attention that she was receiving. "Thanks?"

"That would be a compliment yes. The name is Jayson." He mused, propping his hands against the table. He gave Mia a charming smile, his light brown hair fell to about his eyebrows and his bright blue eyes twinkled.

"Mia. But I guess you know that." Mia responded coolly, hoping that the less she said the more likely he would be to leave. "It's nice to meet you." Mia adverted her eyes away from him and locked them on the pencil sharpener in the front of the room, silently hoping he would go away.

He chuckled a little at her apparent shyness. "Nothing like good old California hospitality, I was in your first hour class too. So hey, do you think I could get your number or something? You know, in case you have any questions about our grand old town." Mia ignored his comment and remained quiet until Mr. Crane commanded him to return to his seat.

The class went on, slowly after she finished introducing herself to the rest of the class. Not to mention she probably took enough notes to last her the rest of her psychology year. Jasper Hale was abnormally quiet compared to those she had already met and almost laid back, almost because he really never relaxed, he just looked tense during the whole class. And Rosalie. . . well she never quite looked away either.

Mia's next class was Calculus with Mr. Martinez, this was her second Math class of the day, for some odd reason while most people hated math, Mia thoroughly enjoyed every last drop of it. It was one thing that was absolute and never changed two plus two always equaled four. She took a seat in the middle-back row where Emmett soon took a seat next to her, as it was the last available spot. "Sorry for making you move in Trig." Mia apologized, turning her head to sneak a quick look at him.

"I like sitting in the back." He darted his light bronze eyes at Mia quickly before looking away, causing her to wonder if she had just imagined him looking at her for his action was so quick.

Mia turned back to the front of the room when Mr. Martinez plopped the class book down onto her desk. "Welcome to the district Mia. I won't make you stand up or introduce yourself or anything like that, don't worry." He flashed her a friendly, white smile.

She quickly returned his smile with as much gusto as she could manage. He was a young looking teacher, maybe in his early 20's. He had dark black hair with green eyes that had specks of brown in them and lightly tanned skin. "Thanks. You're probably my favorite teacher of the day so far." Mia concluded and he laughed a little at the comment.

"Alright class, since I know you are probably being pounded with information today and all the boring things we teachers give to you on the first day; consider this hour a break time. Talk to your friends, get to know new people, work on other things. Just keep the volume at a dull roar." Mr. Martinez instructed, still smiling at Mia widely.

"I'd like to get to know you better." A boy oozed, pulling a chair up to Mia's side of the desk.

Mia cocked an eyebrow at him, were the males in this town so starved for attention that they had to pounce on the _fresh meat_. "Can't say I wish for the same thing." She murmured under her breath for the sake of not being rude. "What's your name, you seem like you have an ego the size of Texas."

A couple of his friends who had gathered around him sneered at Mia's comment and laughed at him. "Attitude and a little frisky, I like you already. The name is Kevin." Next to her, the corner of Emmett's lip turned up into a smile. "I'm the Varsity football quarterback; you should come to a game sometime. The first one is in September, like the 5th or something."

Mia shook her head in decline. "I don't like football."

Without turning to look at Mia or any of her new 'friends' Emmett commented in a deep and low voice. "She's not interested."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Mia's lips, thankful for the save. The group of guys to the side of her looked at Emmett as if he was about to snap them in half, and it looked like he very well could. "He's right." Mia sighed when they had yet to leave her side, stuck to her like glue.

Kevin rolled his eyes and brushed off Emmett's comment with a new found confidence. "So you're from Sacramento, huh?" Mia gave him a questioning look as to how he found that out. Kevin was clearly amused by her confusion. "Word gets around here pretty quick."

Mia could no longer suppress her agitation at them. "Why don't you process these words _pretty_ _quick_ and leave me alone. I don't enjoy being hit on by a bunch of guys who think the new girl is naive and **easy**." Upon hearing this they frowned and scattered back to where they had been previously.

"Quite catty." Emmett observed and Mia couldn't tell if he meant it or if it was supposed to be some sort of joke. She felt her cheeks light up like a blazing fire when his words filtered into her ears. His voice was smooth enough to bring a girl to her knees.

This was about the extent of the conversation before the lunch bell rang, setting the raging teens free to appease their furious stomachs. Here lunch was considered a full-fledged hour, back in Sacramento they only received a 25 minute lunch break, but Mia supposed the people here didn't have anything better to do with their time. Plus they only had six hours of the day, so that was pleasing to know.

"Hey Mia! Over here." Annie shouted when she entered the cafeteria, by the time she arrived most of the seats were already filled, so it was nice to know that a place had been reserved for her.

Mia gave her a warm smile and sat down. "Hey yourself."

She looked around the lunch room and lowered her voice a few octaves. "People all over school have been talking about you. If you get in with the right crowd, you can easily become the most popular girl in school."

"I don't really care about being popular, Annie." Mia admitted softly, she just wanted to get through the year.

Annie laughed at this. "Yeah, well as of right now, you know all the right people, you're going to really enjoy Forks. I'm going to go get something to eat, wanna come with?"

Mia shook her head and sat down. "No thanks. You go ahead." Mia thought back on what she had for breakfast and concluded that with the way she had been eating recently, that was probably the extent of what she would eat that day.

"You're darling." Annie cooed, blowing Mia a kiss before jetting off into the line.

Mia drummed her manicured nails down on the table and peered around the cafeteria. Annie was right, everyone here was either staring at her or they kept glancing back to do so. This would all blow over in a matter of weeks, maybe even days when they got bored of the shiny new toy that was the new girl. "Hey I'm Kelly, you must be Mia." Kelly had straight black hair with a brown undertone; she also had deep green eyes that almost reminded Mia of the ocean at noon.

"Yeah." Mia acknowledged her with a tip of her head.

Annie soon came back and she sat her tray that was filled with pizza, a green apple, and a soda can, down on the table. "Thanks for saving me a seat Mia. This is my boyfriend, Jayson."

Mia's head snapped up when she mentioned this. _Boyfriend? Jayson_. The _same_Jayson that was asking her for her number in a flirtatious manner last hour. "Yeah we've met." Mia replied reluctantly.

He gave her a small guilty smile in return thankful that she hadn't revealed the complete truth, soon to join the table was a guy named James who wasn't too bad looking and his girlfriend, Ashley. "Are you not hungry Mia?" Ashley asked Mia when she noticed that the girl wasn't eating like the rest of the people at their table.

Mia shook her head quickly. "No." Mia admitted swiftly, her eyes soon found and locked on to the table that Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and three others occupied, they all were staring off into space, each looking in a random direction with untouched food laid out in front of them.

"The people that you are looking at, they are the _**Cullens**_. They are all adopted siblings, Dr. Cullen and his wife's that is." Annie started. "And what's kind of weird is that they are all like, _together_. Emmett and Rosalie, the burly one with the really pretty one; and Jasper and Alice. Jasper is the one who looks like he is in constant pain and Alice is the shorty with the short black hair."

"Don't forget Edward." Kelly joined in. "He's the best looking one of all, though he thinks he's too good for anyone here so don't hold your breath on him Mia."

Mia tore her eyes away from the Cullen table. "Oh. That's. . . . odd."

"We are going to be great friends, the six of us." Ashley and Annie mused at the same time. Lunch quickly passed and Mia soon learned to tune out the busy chatter of her new friends as she stared out the glass wall that encased the lunch room, watching the rain slow down into a light sprinkle.

"Do we get a grade in study hall Mr. Martinez?" Mia asked before taking the same seat she sat in during math, not only was he her Calculus teacher, but he also observed the study hall group too.

He chuckled a little. "Yes Mia, you do. But not so much on work, just behavior and things like that, whether you annoy me to death or not."

Mia tried to smile at his comment, but found it hard. "Let's hope that doesn't happen." She sighed, Emmett soon joined Mia for a lack of other places to sit.

Mr. Martinez cleared his throat before speaking in a smooth voice. "I know you all have homework to work on of some sort so get to work." Mr. Martinez instructed as he eased himself down into his chair, looking relaxed while they-the unworthy students- sat on less cushioned seats.

Mia looked down at the desk and a folded piece of paper was left in front of her, inconspicuous looking. Hesitantly she opened it up and marveled at the precise curvature of every letter;

-_You were talking about me at lunch huh?__  
><em>  
>Mia could tell that her facial expressions showed that she was shocked and even a little surprised, so she wrote back in reply;<p>

* _No. Not really_.

She slid the paper back over to him and looked away while he scrawled something down in his perfect cursive;

- _Your friends sure like to talk_.

Mia cocked an eyebrow at this, she didn't think that they spoke that loudly.

* _Yes they do_.

Mia passed the note back to him nonchalantly and he quickly swept through the single lines that she printed. Without replying he crumpled it up and threw it behind him casually, then resumed to the position he was sitting in like he had never moved. Mia watched his perfect movements before tearing her eyes away as she realized that she was staring...again.

Emmett smirked knowingly and leaned back in his chair remaining quiet for the remainder of the period. After the bell rang Mia picked her things up and left the room, she had to travel to the Gym next and by her observation, the rain was pouring down outside once more.

P.E. was rather simple the first day, as expected, they were issued their rather dull uniforms (they were skin tight t-shirts and dark blue shorts that stopped a few inches above the knee) and a locker with a combination that was unique, after all of this was said and done they just went over the kinds of games that the students would be playing and things of that nature. So Mia was relieved when the final bell rang and school was released, it had been a long day and she was exhausted physically and mentally.

Mia fled the school as if someone lit a fire under her. She rocketed out to her Jeep and fumbled with the keys in the down pour of rain, by the time she retreated into the dry interior of her car, her pants were soaked three inches up and the rain had seeped through her jacket. Mia kicked the heat on (something she was unaccustomed to in August) and slowly pulled out of the large parking lot and made her way home.

Like clockwork, as soon as Mia stepped in the front door of Jenna's house her cell phone vibrated in her jean pocket. Mia dropped her school supplies off onto the floor and pulled it out of her pocket and checked the ID; _Jenna_. "Hey." Mia breathed warily.

"Did you just get home?" Jenna inquired

"Just walked in the front door, actually." Mia plopped her body down on the leather couch and closed her eyes.

"How was your first day?" Jenna was intrigued. "Was everyone nice?"

Subconsciously a sigh fell from Mia's lips, it was like she had just came back from her first day of kindergarten. Mia knew that Jenna was trying to be nice, but didn't think that it was completely necessary. "It was okay I guess. A lot different than Sacramento to say the least."

"Good." Jenna was definitely pleased upon hearing this news. "I'm not going to get home until late; another doctor went home sick so I have to cover his shift. I really wanted to be there for you after school." Her tone gave way to her motherly side.

"It's fine, Jen." Mia replied. "I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'm pretty tired."

Jenna let out an obnoxiously loud sigh. "Mia, you need to eat something before you go to bed, do you hear me? I'm serious too. I know you didn't eat much this morning so before you crash, have a bite to eat. There's plenty of food in the house." Jenna paced nervously in her office.

The sternness in her voice startled Jenna so she didn't bother to argue. "Alright. I got it. I'll get something."

"Good. I have to go now." Jen replied, satisfied. "Night. Love ya girlie."

"Love you too." Mia sighed before clicking her cell phone off. Mia rested it on the floor and pulled out her IPod from the opposite pocket and slipped the head phones into her ears, turning it on. The soft melodies of the music quickly lulled Mia to sleep in no time, without a bite to eat.

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><p><strong>(AN These breaks symbolize breaks in location, slight time jumps, POV Change.)**

"Did you guys meet the new girl at school today?" Emmett questioned aloud as a commercial came on, interrupting the pre-season football game, "She was kind of weird wasn't she."

Alice pushed him in the shoulder, "That's not nice Em."

"She was very sorrowful." Jasper chimed in softly. "I couldn't even ease her."

"Her parents died in a car accident a little over a week ago," Edward established for everyone even though he felt a bit guilty for reading her mind, "She's living with her aunt now who is a doctor at the hospital." Her racing thoughts gave him quite the insight into her life, unknowingly.

"What's her Aunt's name?" Carlisle questioned, overhearing part of the conversation.

Edward paused to remember. "Jenna, I think. If I am not mistaken." And he knew he wasn't.

Carlisle nodded his head knowingly. "Ahhh yes. Jenna, she's a sweet young woman. It was her brother and sister in law. Mia must be her niece. I covered her days that she was down in Sacramento. She hasn't taken any other days off other than to go to the funeral. A good doctor."

"That poor girl." Alice frowned. "I wish I had some classes with her. Maybe I could. . ." Her thoughts drifted off and a frown tugged at her lips.

Jasper rested her hand on Alice's small shoulder. "I know you want to help her because that's the kind of person you are. But we keep to ourselves remember? It's just easier this way."

"She's just a human." Rosalie stated, uncaring while she continued to paint her nails a metallic pink. "Not our problem."

Alice shot her adoptive sister a nasty glare before something popped into her head and a smile lit up her small face. Edward already knew her idea and just shook his head side to side. "I know what will make her feel better!"

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it :) Let me know, if you wish.<strong>


	3. Chapter Three: Welcomed Surprises

**A/N: Here's the third one, let me know of any Questions/Comments/Concerns. Enjoy! :D**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three: Welcomed Surprises<strong>

Jenna entered the house quietly a little after midnight and flipped on the living room light as she slipped her shoes and wet jacket off. Her blue eyes rested on Mia's small sleeping form. Jenna let out a defeated sigh and made her way to the hall closet where she dug out a large blanket. She removed the head phones from Mia's ears and turned off the IPod before she slipped her shoes off of her feet.

"What am I going to do with you?" Jenna whispered aloud. She laid the blanket over Mia's relaxed body before leaving the living room

It was sometime a little after five am in the morning when Mia's internal alarm clock finally went off, telling her that fourteen hours of sleep was enough. Mia was temporarily surprised when she awoke on the couch with a heavy blanket covering her body and her shoes on the floor, "Jenna." She assumed quietly.

Quietly, Mia moved up the stairs so she wouldn't wake up Jenna. Mia grabbed a pair of dark skinny jeans out of her closet and a hot pink sweater with a turtle neck but no sleeves and headed to the bathroom. Mia turned on the hot and cold water in the shower and brushed her teeth and washed her face while she waited for it to come to the appropriate temperature. Mia stood under the water for a good thirty minutes before she shampooed and conditioned her hair.

After stepping out of the shower, Mia turned on the exhaust fan to get rid of the steam and patted down her body before tugging on the desired clothing. She blow dried her hair until it was no longer damp before she broke out the curling iron and created loose curls. And for the first time in about a week, Mia cared enough to apply make-up. Mascara. Eyeliner. And eye shadow.

"Today is going to be a better day." Mia stated matter-of-factly to herself, taking a deep breath. She slipped on a pair of two inch pink heels, grabbed her stuff and headed out the door, trying to keep the noise to a minimum.

Mia parked next to a silver Volvo and a red convertible that had the top up even though it had yet to rain that day, but given what she already knew of Fork's reputation it was inevitable. She noticed people sitting in each vehicle but failed to check who they were. Mia glanced at the clock built into the Jeep and saw that she still had a few minutes, she thought about waiting but knew that if she didn't get out of her car, she would fail to attend class.

So Mia stepped out of the Jeep and slowly made her way to the Trig room, by the time she did that the bell had rang and everyone was scurrying to get to class on time. A few seats were left open by the time she got to class. Mia took her seat behind Zane and in front of Emmett. "How was your first day?" Zane asked curiously, turning around in his seat.

"Interesting." Mia decided on after a moment of thought. She bit her lip and sighed a little to herself at the thought of what she was about to tell him. "You know. . . . it turns out that I am free Friday if you wanted to do something."

Zane's face lit up like a Christmas tree but before he could reply, Mike interjected with an idea of his own. "There's going to be a bonfire at my house Friday. You and some friends should come."

"Um. Okay." Mia agreed before Zane turned back around to face the front of the room.

Mr. O'Brian had already begun scrawling notes down on the front board, their first notes of the year. And just like Psychology, there were tons and tons of them. So much that there wasn't enough time to finish taking them all and the bell rang before Mia could finish them completely.

"Do you need my notes?" Mike asked after he gathered all of his things.

Mia closed her notebook and dropped her pencil down in her purse before picking her books up, "No it's okay, thanks though. I have third hour with Emmett. I can get them from him then."

Mike appeared uneasy by the gesture. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Keep them." Mia declined again, making her way out and into the bustling hallway.

The cool air bit at her warm face as Mia stepped outside into the gusty wind while she progressed to the Science building to go to Psychology. Mia took her seat next to Jasper, as he was already sitting quietly in his seat. She proceeded to dig her notebook and text book out of her backpack and rested them on the edge of the desk and watched while the students filtered in.

The bell soon rang and Mr. Crane was ready to start class but as soon as he opened his mouth to start the lecture, there was a loud knock on his closed classroom door. "Come in." He boomed, thinking it was just a student who lagged behind.

A man in his mid-twenties stepped into the classroom, his face hidden behind a large bouquet of flowers of many assortments. The flower deliverer looked down at a notepad in his hand before speaking, "Mia Clarence?"

Mia felt her cheeks blaze when everyone in the class, including the teacher, turned to look at her with questioning eyes. The man sat the flowers down on her desk and left the room swiftly. The note read: _Welcome to Forks, have a good day. Don't forget to smile_. No one had signed it.

"May we proceed with class now?" Mr. Crane glared pointedly at the students in the room, annoyed that he was interrupted by such a trivial event.

From the corner of Mia's eye she saw Rosalie Hale murmur something under her breath before looking away, and from the other side it looked like Jasper had a strained smile on his face. And for a second, Mia wished she could read minds.

For the rest of the hour, Mia could hardly focus on what Mr. Crane was preaching because she was too consumed with wonder at who could have sent the flowers. Mia immediately ruled out her Aunt since that definitely wasn't her handwriting style, and that didn't leave many other suspects. When the bell rang, Mia jumped, unaware that so much time had already passed.

"Ms. Clarence," Mr. Crane spoke softly to grab her attention before she filtered out of the room with the other students, "Can you please refrain from having flowers delivered to you while in my class?"

Mia bit her lip and inhaled the uplifting scent of the flowers. "Sorry, I didn't know someone was sending them to me. I don't even know who they are from."

"Very well." Mr. Crane huffed before dismissing Mia from class with a flick of his wrist.

Even more pairs of eyes were on her as she casually, but quickly, walked through the halls thanks to the lovely flowers that stuck out like a sore thumb in the bare hallways. "Who are the flowers from?" Mr. Martinez questioned casually when Mia entered the Calculus room before the bell rang.

Mia simply shrugged her shoulders and stopped at his desk. "I don't know, but can I leave them here and come back later to get them? I feel like everyone is staring at me because of them."

"Mystery admirer," He chuckled before placing the vase on his desk. "I'll be happy to hold onto them for you."

"Thanks." Mia whispered before taking her seat next to Emmett Cullen whose face was lit up with a small smile that pulled up the edges of his perfectly shaped lips and showed the dimples in his cheeks.

Mia nervously turned to him so she could ask for a slight favor. "Do you think I could borrow your notes that we took in Trig? I didn't have enough time to get them all down." Mia let out a small sigh after letting her confession be known.

"Sure." Emmett grabbed a dark blue notebook from his pile of school supplies and slid it across the table to her.

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><p><em>The flowers<em>. That was Alice's idea to cheer her up. Emmett assumed that was why Rose looked irritated when he saw her in the hall between classes. But it looks like Alice may have been right; Mia certainly did appear a little happier today. _Why would Alice care? _He thought quickly to himself, he made a mental note to interrogate his sister later.

Emmett noticed a distinctive movement to his right followed by a potent floral smell. _That's not from the flowers_. He turned his head slowly to the right to find that Mia had brushed her hair from the left section of her neck, leaving it open and inviting.

A familiar feeling grew in his throat- The dry ache in his throat, the hollow yearn in his stomach, the automatic tightening of muscles, the excess flow of venom in his mouth. Quickly Emmett tore his gaze from her and tightened his jaw- trying to focus on Mr. Martinez. This proved to be a harder than expected task, especially when the A/C kicked on. The vent was just above Mia which only blew her scent towards him.

Once the bell rang, Emmett was the first out of his seat and out of the classroom before Mia even had time to put her black pen down that she had been writing in. "Did she like the flowers, Em?" Alice asked upon immediately seeing him after he took his usual place between Edward and Rose at theirlunch table.

The sickly sweet aroma of flowers was still fresh in Emmett's mind, causing a throbbing burning sensation in his throat. "I think so, Alice." He concluded. Her question did nothing to tear Mia's image from his mind and now Edward was eying him suspiciously from the corner of his eye.

_Her scent_. Emmett thought, knowing his brother could hear him. _It's like nothing I've smelled before_. He didn't know how he didn't notice it the other day.

That was all Emmett could get out before his attention was directed to the glass doors to which Mia had just entered through. The room faintly smelled of her, but grew stronger with each step she took. Emmett had attracted the attention of the other vampires he sat with, and they too followed his gaze. They watched Mia's flawed human movement in silence, Emmett felt Rose tense at his side when Mia approached the table awkwardly.

She took the dark blue notebook off the pile of her things and reached her arm across the table. Emmett didn't even notice the notebook she was handing to him, instead the steady pulsing of her blood under the tanned skin of her neck grabbed his immediate thoughts.

Emmett's muscles coiled, preparing his body to spring. Edward kicked the steel leg of his chair and took the notebook from Mia's delicate hand instead. "You left class before I could give you your notes back. Thanks for letting me use them." She spoke kindly, unaware that she was becoming prey.

Without waiting for an answer she turned and went to go sit at an already full table that still welcomed her presence. "What was _**that**_." Edward demanded in a low hiss

"Did you smell her?" Emmett questioned, astounded that the others didn't smell the same enticing aroma that he did.

"It was nothing special." Alice dismissed, her eyes flickered toward Jasper for a brief second in worry, only to find that he was just now letting out a suppressed breath of air that he had sucked in when Mia first came around.

_What's __one __more slip up? _Emmett thought dangerously to himself, the idea of her sweet, thick, warm blood rolling down his throat only brought on more attention from Edward as he easily read his brother's thoughts.

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><p>Mia settled into the chair Jessica and Zane had reserved for her at the lunch table after she dropped off the notebook Emmett kept his Trigonometry notes in, Mia brushed off his odd behavior and let it go since she probably wouldn't understand it. "So, why did you move here, Mia?" Jessica inquired after taking a bite of her solid, dark red apple.<p>

Subconsciously, Mia was hoping that this question would never come up and they would just kind of accept that she moved here with no interior meaning- what a foolish wish. "I came to live with my aunt. My parents died in a car accident." Mia murmured the last part under her breath, saying it out loud made it real- made it final.

Suddenly, it was like everyone was hypnotized by her words and an unsettling silence filled the now awkward space. "So the bonfire tomorrow at my house is at six." Mike spoke after an uncomfortable moment.

Mia thanked him silently for the distraction and darted her eyes to the Cullen table, as she suddenly felt several pairs of eyes on her, a blush crept onto her cheeks when she realized that she was right. Zane re-captured her attention with a question, "Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Oh sure," Mia nodded, "I'll give you directions to my house."

"No need, I know where you live. Next door to Chief Swan." Zane answered without missing a beat, before he realized how strange that must seem to her. "Everyone knows where everyone else lives around here. I'm not creepy. I promise. We saw the moving van too."

Mia forced a laugh at this, but her good mood was beginning to fade fast, this she noticed had been happening a lot lately. "Here you can call me before you come and get me." Mia grabbed a red pen from her purse and jotted her number down on his hand. The rest of school dragged by slowly, with nothing significant occurring, to which Mia was glad.

Jenna was home when Mia returned from school; she was in the kitchen popping some popcorn on the stove while opening movie credits played from the living room. "Hey Mia," Jenna stuck her head around the corner, her eyes lit up at what her niece held in her hands. "Ooo who are _those _from?"

"No idea." A small smile turned up the corner of Mia's lips as she set them down on the marble counter.

Jenna emptied the popper into a large glass bowl and tossed a piece into her mouth, "Want some. It's delicious and good for you. Crazy, huh?" She winked playfully at Mia and pushed the bowl towards her.

"Nice try," Mia rolled her eyes playfully, "I think I'm just going to do some homework and hit the sack."

Jenna crossed her arms and frowned. "You're going to make yourself sick. I know you didn't eat squat last night and you probably only had toast this morning, at least have some popcorn."

Mia took a handful of popcorn and shoved it into her open mouth just to humor Jenna. "There, now go watch your movie. I've got work to do." Mia sighed as she waved her back into the living room.

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><p>A sigh fell from Jenna's lips after she watched Mia sulk back up to her room halfway through the movie, she muttered a good night on her way up but said nothing more. Jenna checked her phone; it was only a little after five pm. She sifted through her contacts and dialed a doctor who she was familiar with at the hospital, Doctor Carlisle Cullen. He picked up after two rings, "Hello Jenna. How may I help you?" He was always so polite; it was no wonder why all the female doctors and nurses alike swooned over him.<p>

"Sorry to bother you, but I think my niece is suffering from depression and that's to be expected but she won't eat and she sleeps all the time now." Jenna sighed in obvious discontent.

"She won't eat?" Carlisle re-iterated. "That's not good a good sign. Maybe she should be put on anti-depression medicine for a while and see how that works out for her. Of course that carries great risk as well. How is she taking to life here?"

Jenna shrugged her shoulders to herself. "She's never really been one who loves rain but I think she's adjusting, slowly. Someone sent her flowers today at school and that made her really happy when she showed them to me." Jenna smiled to herself; the kindness of a complete stranger did that.

"That's good to hear," Carlisle was pleased to hear that Alice's idea had worked, "I am going to be working the late shift tomorrow so if you want to bring her in we can see if she needs anti-depressants."

"I'm working the morning shift, so I'll see what I can do. Thanks Carlisle." Jenna deeply appreciated his help, more than he would ever know.

"Happy to help. Have a good night." Carlisle answered.

"You too," Jenna smiled to herself before hanging up the phone. "Something tells me, she is not going to enjoy going to the hospital."

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><p><strong>Thanks for sticking with me, I hope you liked it :) Reviews or constructive criticism is welcomed.<strong>


	4. Chapter Three: A Reliable Friend

**Here's the next installment, I hope you like it :D**

**Thinker320: Thank you so much for your review, I'm glad you like it :) And there will be more of his thoughts to come, no worries.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four: A Reliable New Friend<strong>

When Mia woke the following morning, light had not even begun to filter in through her single window when a terrible pain shot through her stomach. She rolled out of bed and stumbled through her bedroom entrance, barely making it to the bathroom toilet when her stomach seized up.

Stomach acid burned Mia's throat and mouth as the contents of her stomach were spilled out into the porcelain. Mia picked herself up slowly from the bathroom floor and grabbed a bottle of mouthwash. She tipped the bottle back into her mouth, an inch above her lips and filled her mouth with the new burning liquid.

Mia swished it around for a brief amount of time and spit the horrid creation out of her mouth. Her eyes searched the bathroom counter for headache medicine but came up short, forcing her to clumsily make her way down the stairs.

A light was already on in the living room and kitchen when Mia arrived downstairs, her head was throbbing and her stomach muscles were tightening again. Jenna took one look at Mia and thought her eyes would pop out of her head. "Sit down." Jenna pushed Mia down onto the padded cushioned seats and started filling a cup with cold water from the fridge.

"You look dehydrated. Drink." She shoved the glass into Mia's hand while she danced over to the medicine cabinet.

The cool liquid felt nice as it slithered down Mia's dry throat. "I think this is the part where you say _I told you so_." She commented dryly as Jenna dropped two white pills and a pink and white pill into Mia's awaiting hand.

"Swallow and go back to bed." Jenna instructed sternly. "Its four am and I don't think you are in any condition to go to school today, so up to bed once you finish that. I'll be back around four tonight, when I get back we are going to go up to the hospital and-"

"I was going to go to a bonfire tonight." Mia cut her off quickly.

Jenna's eyes lit up. "Really? Alright, that's good. Never mind then, what time and who's house?"

"Around six I think, and at Mike something's house." Mia ran a hand through her blonde hair. "Someone is going to pick me up beforehand."

Jenna was beaming brightly and patted her shoulder, steering Mia toward the stairs. "Either way, I want you to stay home for school. Those bags under your eyes are telling me that you haven't been getting a great night's sleep. Take some time to recuperate before going to the bonfire tonight."

"You're encouraging me to ditch school." Mia argued somewhat playfully, taking the first step.

"No." Jenna disagreed quickly. "Simply looking out for your best interest. There's a difference."

* * *

><p>"I don't see her car." Alice rocked up onto the balls of her feet, peering around the school grounds one last time.<p>

Edward sighed and shook his head, entering the man building of the school with his adoptive sister and Jasper. "I hope you're not talking about who I think you are." Edward whispered in a voice so soft, human ears wouldn't be able to perceive what was being said. "We don't associate with humans, it's better that way."

"She's _different_." Alice insisted strongly.

"_Alice_." There was a low warning in Edward's voice. "_How _different is she?"

Alice snickered under her breath, immediately she began humming a musical tune, visualizing the words in her head. She frequently resorted to such behavior when she thought that Edward may start to probe her thoughts. "We have to go to science, see ya Edward." Edward grumbled under his breath and scampered off to class as the minute bell ran as a reminder to get to class.

Mia dug through her closet rapidly, she couldn't remember the last time she actually fretted about the clothing she chose to wear. Her cell phone began to chime from where is lain on her bed, with a light blue sweater in hand, Mia jogged across her room and snatched the object up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Mia, it's Zane." He identified himself before jumping into why he had called her. "I was calling to see if you were still going to the bonfire at Mike's house tonight. No one saw you in school today so-"

"How did you-" Mia began, about to ask him how he got her number before she remembered giving it to him. "Anyway, yeah I still plan on going. Six right? I wasn't feeling too hot this morning so I didn't go in, I'm feeling much better now though."

Zane was silent for a moment while he soaked in everything Mia had said. "Great, six o'clock it is. I'll see you then?"

"Sure thing." Mia agreed before ending the call and checking the time. It was just after 3:15 and school must have just gotten out. Mia gave the blue sweater in her hand a second glance and decided to place it back in the closet; she would get rather warm sitting around a fire in that.

She began her digging once more just as the faint noise of a slamming car door interrupted the silence of the home, _Jenna must be home, _Mia thought to herself. She grabbed a pair of white jean capris and a dark purple tank top before reaching the top of the stairs as the front door creaked open. Jenna carried a rather large brown box in her arms that forced her to shut the door with her foot. "Mia!" Jenna called in surprise at seeing her niece at the top of the stairs. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks." Mia tilted her head and gestured with her free hand at the box that appeared to be rattling around in her arms, "What do you have there in the box?" Her curiosity made her forget about getting ready for the bon fire and pushed her to the living room.

"Have a look." Jenna beamed and sat the box down on the carpet. She waited until Mia was close enough before revealing the contents by removing the loosely fastened lid.

Mia fell to her knees almost instantly and scooped up the pure white puppy that nearly tilted the box over when she put her paws on the edge of the cardboard. The Siberian Husky let out a playful yap and wagged her tail happily. "Say hello to Nika, the new addition to the household." Jenna proclaimed.

"She's beautiful." Mia gushed with a large grin, rubbing the pup behind both ears affectionately. "And her big blue eyes… Where did you get her?"

"A nurse at work was looking to sell some of her puppies, Nika is about five weeks old now, she's a pretty girl." Jenna crouched to the floor as well and pushed the box out of the way. "I figured we would both enjoy a little extra company and I haven't had a dog since I was a little girl." Jenna watched the twinkle return to Mia's eyes for the first time since before the accident and knew that she had made the right decision in buying Nika.

Mia felt her heart melt the moment the loving puppy licked her cheek with her small pink tongue, she moved into a crossed-legged position and sat Nika in her lap. "But you don't have any pet supplies do you? Like a bed and a bowl?"

Jenna laughed a little at the very real concern in Mia's eyes. "No not yet, would you like to go to the store with me and pick up some starting material?" She saw Mia glance down at the excited animal and noted the reluctance on her face. "I'm sure it will be alright if Nika comes with us."

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><p>"Alice," Emmett let his weight fall against the doorframe in the entrance to her bedroom where the pixie-like woman was organizing her closet, "You seem awfully interested in Mia, are you having visions of her?"<p>

Alice flashed her brother a coy smile, "You seem interested as well hmmm?"

Emmett crossed his arms over his muscled chest and furrowed his eyebrows, "What aren't you telling?" He pictured Mia's unforgettable smile in his head, it had been seared into his head the first day he saw her smile a _real _smile. His own lips began to upturn until he spotted Alice smirking at him in delight. "Never mind." Emmett grumbled and removed himself from his spot on the wall.

"Good talk, Emmett!" Alice called after him, not bothering to suppress a light laugh.

Emmett rolled his eyes at her final comment and followed the piano music to the entrance of the house where Edward was playing a soothing melody with Esme resting next to him on the bench seat. "Hate to interrupt but," Emmett flashed Edward a daunting smile, "I'm going to go hunt."

"I'll race you." Edward took the bait in a heartbeat. Emmett grinned, hunting was the best thing to do in order to clear his head of the young woman who was interfering with his football watching capabilities.

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><p>"So you've gotten yourself a puppy huh?" Zane acknowledged as he led Mia to where he parked his truck on the side of the road. "I'm not much of a dog person myself, but she seems like she has potential. Say, what is her name again?"<p>

"Nika." Mia reminded him upon heaving herself into his truck. She fastened her seatbelt immediately and cast one last look back at her home before it faded in the review mirror. Mia had contemplated calling Zane and telling him to never mind picking her up in order to spend more time with the puppy, but Jenna had strongly objected.

"Cool, cool." Zane faked interest and rapped his fingers on the steering wheel, "So did your Aunt give you a time to be home or anything or are you free for the night?"

Mia glanced over at him curiously; she hadn't even thought to ask. "I'm not sure, I hadn't planned on being out all night." She answered honestly while moving her eyes back to the road, they had turned down onto a gravel road and Zane was already slowing down.

"We're almost there." Zane remarked absentmindedly as if something she had said killed his buzz. The conversation fell off immediately and a few minutes later he had made a left turn and parked behind a long string of cars in an extended driveway. He put it in park and gestured outside the window, "Whelp, here we are. Let the party begin."

"Party?" Mia questioned softly, following reluctantly behind her driver. _Of course it wouldn't just be a simple and friendly get-together_, Mia thought bitterly to herself. Everyone was going to get hammered and she would be left with only two choices, stay the night or call Jenna and have her come pick her up when she was ready to leave; but that would raise a lot of questions. Or she could walk.

"Hey Mia!" Kelly approached her with a red cup in her hand and a large smile on her face. "Glad that you finally showed up, we were all thinking that you decided not to come since you weren't at school. Want something to drink?" She looped her arm around Mia's and pulled her into the back yard with the rest of the group.

Mia shook her head in protest, "No thanks, I'm good."

"Oh come on." Kelly protruded her lower lip in an attempt to make a pouting face.

* * *

><p>"I don't like those two colors together, maybe if you-"Alice lost her train of thought while in the midst of giving Rosalie fashions tip. Her eyes glazed over and she became still and silent for about fifteen seconds before she snapped back to reality at the conclusion of her vision.<p>

"What were you seeing this time?" Rose set down the shirt and skirt combo and waited patiently for a response.

Alice opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again as if she was also trying to figure out what she herself had seen. Finally the words came to her, "I'll be back in about twenty minutes, there's something I have to do." She instinctively felt her jean pockets for her keys and headed in the direction of the family car. "It's a good thing there are only a million gravel roads in Forks…"

After ten minutes of dedicated and thorough searching Alice knew she had pulled down the right road when a familiar silhouette appeared in her headlights. Alice brought her Porsche to a halt on the side of the road and opened her door. "What are you doing out here by yourself, Mia?"

Mia's head snapped in the direction her name was called from. She held her hand up to block out the light from the headlights that were blaring in her face. Mia noticed the petite female instantly and recognized her, "Alice Cullen?" She slipped her heels back on and stepped off the grassy shoulder of the road.

"I don't think I've ever properly introduced myself, I'm Alice." She stuck her small hand out in greeting before re-thinking and pulling back. "I was out for a drive when I saw you walking along the side of the road; you could get hit out here with no lights lining the road. Can I give you a ride home?"

"I would appreciate that if it's not too much trouble." Mia accepted and headed for the passenger side. "Thank you so much, I'm not sure I could even find my way back into town on my own."

Alice pulled a smooth U-turn and flashed Mia a charming smile, "Don't mention it. Can I ask what you were doing walking alone out here, it's hardly something that you should make a habit of."

Mia scratched the back of her head nervously, "I went to a bonfire with some friends only to find that there was more of an emphasis on it being a drinking party than anything else. And umm…my parents were killed by a drunk driver who swerved over into their lane." Mia whispered the last part and prayed that the noticeable shake in her voice wasn't too noticeable.

"I'm sorry." Alice patted Mia's hand gently without thinking before returning it to the steering wheel once more, the shock on Mia's face betrayed what she thought of the icy contact. "Sorry, bad circulation, but perhaps you should find more _reliable _friends…I'm willing to fill the spot." Alice beamed at her in the dim light that was allowed by the scarce lights that illuminated the streets of Forks, Washington.

Mia glanced over at the young woman who had rescued her from the side of the road and saw that she meant what she said. "I accept."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :) Let me know what you think :] More of Emmett &amp; Mia to come.<strong>


	5. Chapter Five: Secrets

**Here ya go, let me know of any Questions/Thoughts/Concerns. Enjoy :) & This one is a bit shorter, Chapter six makes up for it though.**

**Katily: Thank you so much for your review, I'm glad you like it thus far :]**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five: Secrets<strong>

"Thanks again for going with me, Edward." Emmett smacked Edward on the back with a touch that would have toppled an ordinary person, "I really needed this, it's given me some _perspective_ I guess."

"Anytime, Em. _Really_." Edward nodded, opening the back door to the house for his burly brother and at once his noise crinkled at an unfamiliar scent.

Emmett looked to Edward and saw that he too had smelled the aroma that caused his muscles to tighten and his throat to burn, just _how _much damage could Alice have inflicted in the two days that they were gone? "_Alice_!" Emmett boomed with an amount of sternness that was rarely seen by the prankster.

Within a matter of second, Alice was happily dancing down the stairs. "Yes, my lovely brother?" She did her best not to let her smile betray her mysterious actions that she was sure he already knew.

"_She_ isn't here is she?" Emmett looked at her small frame pointedly.

"She? Oh, you must mean **Mia **and no, she isn't. Why would I bring her here, silly?" Alice shook her head in mild disbelief, Jasper, while not new to the whole vegetarian diet, still needed some more practice. "I was at her house for a bit today…and yesterday. Is her scent really _that potent_?"

"You have no idea, Alice." Emmett almost groaned at the idea of not getting what he want; but in this case it was good that he couldn't have what he wanted most at the moment- Mia's _blood__**.**_

Edward too gave his sister a disapproving frown, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Alice."

"Oh I know perfectly well." Alice boasted, resting her hands on her hips in a matter of fact manner. And in her moment of pride she dropped her guard and allowed the mind reader into her head, and it all happened too fast for her to stop it. She knew Edward had heard the memory of her vision before she could stop him, his eyes widened and his jaw clenched. "Edward!" Alice cried. "Don't you say anything."

"Did you plan on keeping something like _that _a secret." Edward chastised.

Emmett looked first to Edward then to Alice and back again, as if something on their faces would betray what they both knew. He cleared his throat nosily and regained the attention. "Ya know, since it involves me, shouldn't I be clued in to what you _both _know? It's only fair."

"I'd rather not interfere with your right to choose, Em." Alice chose he words carefully, hoping this would keep him at bay.

"By reaching out to her, you are." Edward contradicted strongly.

"You can't mean," Emmett began between laughs, "the human girl. Mia?" He may have been laughing on the outside, but on the inside he knew he was in trouble. He already couldn't get her out of his head.

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><p>"I'm going to take Nika for a walk outside, Jenna!" Mia called up the stairs while reaching for the oversized leash. When the puppy heard her name being spoken she came flopping in from the kitchen, stopping so quickly at Mia's feet that her rear almost rolled over her head. "Come on you silly girl." Mia bent and clipped the end of the leash to the collar that still fit the pup loosely.<p>

Nika anxiously tugged her way to the door; she never passes up an opportunity to take a romp in the great outdoors, especially on a cool night such as this. They were only a few feet into the grass when Nika crouched low to the ground and gave a little shake before pouncing on an innocent dandelion that swayed gently in the light breeze. She grabbed it by the stem and shook her head ferociously until it broke free of the earth. However, her playful mood was short lived within moments she was by Mia's leg and letting out a low growl.

"What's wrong girl?" Mia scooped her up and followed Nika's gaze into the distant woods behind the short row of houses. "What's wrong girl, is there somethin' out there?" She took a step in the direction of the woods but stopped and turned toward the road when she heard a roaring engine and saw bright lights that stopped in front of her home, illuminating her yard.

Within seconds the lights were shut off and Mia could see who it was that approached. "Emmett Cullen?" She spoke his name in slight confusion, not knowing what he could possibly want this late in the evening. She shifted Nika's light weight in her arms and bounced the softly growling animal.

"That's my name." He grinned cheekily at her, showing off his playful side for the first time. "Nice pooch."

"Yeah…" Mia ran her hand soothingly down the puppies back and arched an eyebrow at the large male in front of her. "Nika doesn't seem too fond of you, must be a stranger thing. Not to be rude or anything, but can I ask why you're here?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Emmett scratched his head, "What has Alice been saying to you?"

Mia shifted the animal in her arms and gave a moment to consider the question, "I am not quite sure what you mean by that, but let me put Nika inside and we can continue this conversation."

Emmett nodded in compliance and watched Mia's form with protective eyes as she crossed the lawn and booted the eight pound animal into the house before shutting the door quickly. He allowed a small smile to creep onto his face when she stumbled, seemingly over nothing at all. Emmett saw her cheeks flush with heat in embarrassment and subconsciously licked at his lips at the thought of the blood that coursed through her veins. He tore his attention from her throat and instead settling his gaze on her bright eyes that shined even in the darkness. "Has Alice said anything to you, about me?" Emmett shifted his weight from one foot to another.

Mia flashed him a large smile at his apparent nervousness, "Should she have?"

Emmett searched her face for anything she may have been hiding, whatever Edward and Alice knew, Mia didn't. Emmett hissed softly under his breath, his sister's words pierced his head and he knew that he had been tricked, '_I don't know, Emmett, maybe you should ask her yourself.' _"There must have been a misunderstanding, sorry to bother you."

"Emmett," Mia took a few steps after him when he turned to leave. He turned around a bit surprised by her gentle tone and motion to get closer when most humans shied away, "Are you okay?" She took notice of the light purple shadows under his eyes; maybe he was in dire need of sleep.

He laughed at the concern of a human, "Alice must have gotten bored and decided to send me on a wild goose chase."

"Okay…" Mia mumbled under her breath, clearly perplexed by his odd behavior.

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><p>Chapter Six short Preview:<p>

**_Edward shot his adoptive sister a disapproving glance and began to hand down the orders, "Jasper could you call Carlisle and Esme and let them know that we will be home shortly. And that we will have a guest in tow." Jasper only nodded his head and made a silent grab for the cell phone in his pocket. "Emmett, let's go, you're driving."_**

Stay tuned for Chapter Six! Hope you liked it, let me know. :)


	6. Chapter Six: The Spark

**Here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it :) Let me know of any Questions/Comments/Concerns :]**

**Lucyana12: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the review :D**

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><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>: The Spark

_There's just something about her that's set me off balance, Edward. _Emmett thought the words that were only intended for the mind reader. He rolled a yellow apple under the weight of his hand, careful not to crush the bit of lunch with his inhuman strength.

"Alice seems to like her." Edward spoke quickly, fast enough to avoid the ears of any would-be eavesdroppers. "She _seems _innocent enough; most of her thoughts are consumed with her puppy."

_Most? _Emmett diverted his attention away from the food he faked interest in and allowed his eyes to survey the room until they nonchalantly fell on the table Mia had made her home at for the past weeks.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in knowing the rest." Edward replied with a slight teasing tone. He didn't need to follow Emmett's gaze to know where its final destination had been, something about the human girl had captured something much more than the big guy's attention.

_I'm not_. Emmett corrected his brother quickly bringing his attention back to his untouched food just as Mia had tilted her head in his direction, almost causing their eyes to meet. _She's not that special_.

"Who are you trying to convince of that?" Edward challenged simply.

But before Emmett could arise to the occasion, the rest of the close knit family arrived at their usual table with the props of food. "What were you two whispering about over here?" Rosalie questioned with mild curiosity.

"Nothing, Rose." Emmett shrugged off the question easily and rose to cross the lunchroom in order to ditch his untouched food.

That was when Mia saw her first opportunity in weeks to approach the largest of the Cullen boys. Emmett had decided to move away from her in the classes they shared after the night he had stopped by her house; he was also the first one out of class and the last one in, in order to maximize his avoidance. Of course, she could just be imagining him steering clear of her, maybe Emmett really couldn't see the board in class. "Where are you going, Mia?" Jessica sounded appalled when Mia lurched from her chair with tray in hand.

"I'll be back." Mia promised over her shoulder while making a bee line toward her target, which she seemed to have approached without being noticed. "You haven't even touched your food and you're tossing it out?"

"Mia." Emmett sighed her name; her pleasant aroma tripped his senses before the sound of her voice or her light footfalls. "What brings you to this particular trashcan?"

Mia dumped her tray as well and rested it down on the small side table. She cocked her head to the side and ran her eyes over his flawless face, resting them on his dark golden eyes that appeared darker than normal. Not that she stared enough to notice. Even the contrast between his eyes and paler than average skin was striking; it was then when Mia realized she was staring. "You've been avoiding me since you came to my house asking about Alice, why?"

"Maybe you're just looking too much into it." Emmett offered, sucking and holding in his breath in an attempt to prevent his body's natural reaction to a human as delectable as Mia.

"Maybe." Mia furrowed her eyebrows and reached her hand out to stop his attempt to side step her. She would have sworn that what she had touched was ice if she had not seen her fingertips come in contact with his arm. "Oh!" She squeaked out in surprise, quickly recoiling and stepping back from him. Mia examined her hand for a second, after touching him it felt as though and electrical current rushed through her and now left a tingling trace. "Whatever you say, that is **not **normal."

Emmett felt the strange sensation course through his veins in place of blood and fully saw Mia for the first time. Her deep emerald eyes were filled with a fear and confusion that he instinctively wanted to stomp out. The heels she wore gave her height at a mere five feet four inches a small boost and her soft pink lips were slightly agape. _Edward_. Emmett thought in hopes that the addressed one would come to his rescue, for not even five seconds had passed but it felt like it could have been an hour. The way her eyes burned into his head, he couldn't look away.

Once Mia regained control of her head and body she began to slowly back towards the cafeteria entrance just as the most highly regarded Cullen, Edward, came to his star-struck brother's aid. Edward opened his mouth to speak to Mia, but she beat him to the punch, "I'm just going to go…" There was a reason she never saw anyone else socialize with the Cullens, a reason they kept to themselves; and she was afraid of what she didn't know.

Edward flashed through Mia's thoughts in an instant, relaxing as soon as he declared them to be non-threatening. "The temperature of your skin alarmed her; apparently that wasn't her first contact with one of us." Edward referenced when Alice briefly touched Mia's hand but brushed it off as having poor circulation. "She's frightened, but not a risk."

"What the hell, she shocked me." Emmett marveled a second later. "And then…" His words trailed off and he was left dazed once more just thinking about the accidental contact.

"_Oh_." Edward said under his breath, now Mia had disappeared out of sight behind the swinging cafeteria door, _now it was Alice's turn._

Mia clambered into the empty women's bathroom, grateful for the privacy of the empty room and leaned her body weight against one of only two sinks in the small enclosure. Mia tried to slow down her beating heart that racked uncomfortably against her ribs when she heard the door creak open cautiously. She spared a quick glance and then wished she hadn't.

"You look a little spooked, Mia." Alice spoke softly, careful not to approach the frightened young woman.

Mia pressed her back closer to the sink; she was so close that the porcelain began to dig painfully into her lower back. "Whatever that was back there- was not normal. Normal people aren't that cold." She began rationalizing with herself, her eyes pleading with Alice to prove her wrong.

Alice bit her lip, she would have to choose her choice of words carefully for the tremendous impact it would have on her family. "_Normal _is such a broad term, Mia." Alice flashed a friendly smile but saw that Mia wasn't buying into the subtle gesture, "We're not the most normal people in Forks, then again, we aren't the most bizarre either."

"You're speaking in circles, Alice." Mia sighed letting her chin drop slightly to her chest.

"Come with me." Alice decided and extended a pale hand to Mia that the girl simply stared at with reservations, "Trust me, you can get some of the answers that you seem to be craving."

Outside the bathroom Edward, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie had gathered and the latter was the first to begin speaking. "What exactly does Alice think she is doing in there with the human?" There was a cutting tone to her question that she didn't bother to hide.

Edward shot his adoptive sister a disapproving glance and began to hand down the orders, "Jasper could you call Carlisle and Esme and let them know that we will be home shortly. **And **that we will have a _guest _in tow." Jasper only nodded his head and made a silent grab for the cell phone in his pocket. "Emmett, let's go, you're driving."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading :) I hope you liked it!<strong>


	7. Chapter Seven: Revelation

**A/N: Updates make take awhile to come now since I'm starting college up. I'm going to aim for one a week. :)**

**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy it! Let me know of any Questions/Comments/Concerns/Suggestions.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven: Revelation<strong>

"What does Alice think she's doing bringing that girl here?" Rosalie snarled upon seeing Alice's flashy vehicle pull down onto the large, winding gravel road that led to the connecting garage. "She's going to ruin everything and we're going to have to move again."

"Carlisle, I don't think this is a good idea." Jasper looked his adoptive father who stood calmly at the head of the mahogany table. "This could jeopardize everything we have and I can't allow for Alice to be in danger for any period of time. I'll do what I must to protect her, you know this."

Edward cringed at what Jasper had promised to do if there was any chance harm would come to his mater, Mia wouldn't stand a chance. "That won't be necessary, Jasper." Edward interjected promptly. "Alice has seen the future and it is very nearly set in stone, Mia will be joining our family."

"What!" Rosalie launched to Edward's side, piercing his body with her narrowed eyes. She looked to Carlisle for any hint that he did not know, but found that this wasn't news to him. "When was she planning on disclosing this to the rest of us, how long has she known?"

"Rose, dear, please. You aren't helping the situation." Esme spoke with a motherly tone.

"She can't just decide to expose our existence to a **human** that goes against everything we stand for!" Rosalie cried out, furious that her life in Forks may be put in jeopardy by someone she deemed un-fit.

"She's not just _a _human, Rose." Emmett chimed in at last. _I felt something_.

Edward cleared his throat when the side door to the home squeaked open, of course Alice would give them plenty of time to cross the house as to not catch any of them off guard. Not that Mia could catch him off guard, her thoughts were running across her mind almost too fast for him to read. "They're coming."

"Let's all take a seat." Carlisle suggested, gesturing for his family to be sitting before Alice and Mia entered the dining room. He thought that there would be a lessened chance for confrontation and they wouldn't appear to be quite so much of an opposing force seated.

Esme took her seat on the left of her husband while Emmett took to the right, leaving Edward and Jasper to have the middle seats with Rosalie tying up the other end of the table. The family had just settled in when Alice entered the scene first, with Mia just a step behind.

"Mia, this is our family." Alice placed her dainty arm around Mia's shoulder, causing a noticeable shiver to course down the girl's spine. Mia took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pairs of eyes that looked over her. "You already know Edward and Emmett. There's Jasper and Rosalie." She pointed to each of them before continuing. "And our lovely parents Esme and Carlisle, you're Aunt probably knows him, working at the hospital and all."

Mia cleared her throat and managed to get a single word out. "Hi." She waited for someone else to say something before she realized that they expected a little more from her than a simple greeting. "Alice…she told me what you are-"A hiss from the breath-taking blonde silenced her in midsentence.

"Rosalie." Carlisle said her name patiently before looking to Jasper for some assistance in calming down the fiery vampire. "Sorry Mia, we're just not use to being…exposed. This is all very new for us; of course this is a very special case. I had been hoping that we would have more time before this came to light."

"I didn't mean to cause trouble." Mia whispered softly, making eye contact with Emmett Cullen who watched her every movement with interest. She looked ready to speak again but a soft ringing in her pocket drew her attention elsewhere. Mia dug for her phone and cringed upon seeing the name on her called id. "I have to take this, it's my Aunt."

"You can step into the kitchen, hon." Esme advised with a slight flick of her wrist, she gave Mia a gentle smile and watched the young woman scurry away. "She seems like a sweet girl, maybe a little nervous though."

Edward nodded his head in agreement, "She doesn't know what to expect from us."

"I'd be uncomfortable in a room full of bloodsuckers too." Emmett joked in an attempt to lighten the mood as per usual.

"No," Edward shook his head and let a small smile grace his lips, "_Acceptance _is what Mia seems the most concerned about. She's understanding and not intimidated by what we are." _Emmett, however, does intimidate her; she's unsure what to make of him_.

"Stupid human." Rosalie growled under her breath, though the biting comment didn't escape the ears of her protective, adoptive mother.

"Rosalie, please don't say such things about Mia." Wrinkles creased Esme's perfect marble skin when she furrowed her eyebrows in dissatisfaction. Rosalie hissed under her breath and fell into silence, fixating her golden eyes on a clock across the room.

Mia sighed and twirled a piece of her blonde hair around the end of her fingertip while listening to the concerns of her aunt. "Mia, where are you? The school called and told me that you weren't in class after lunch. Did something happen, are you sick? You could have called me."

"I'm fine, Jenna, really." Mia promised quietly, trying to keep her conversation from being overheard by the supernatural beings in the other room. "I was just thinking a lot and I couldn't stay in class anymore; I should have called you." She bit back the regret she felt for using her parent's deaths as an excuse to get out of class.

"Ohhh honey," Jenna's voice oozed with sympathy only adding to Mia's guilt, "Do you want to talk about it, I can leave the hospital and head home?"

"Oh no, Jen." Mia shook her head violently even though Jenna couldn't see it. "I think I am just going to take a walk and clear my head. Again, sorry I didn't call, it won't happen again."

"Don't worry about it, Mia." Jenna waved off the apology, "You can call or page me at work if you need to talk about anything, but I have to go now. I'll be home in time to make dinner, make sure you take Nika for a walk some time. Kisses."

Mia muttered her goodbye and slipped her cell phone back into her empty pocket. She sucked in a deep breath before stepping back into the well-furnished dining room where the Cullen family waited patiently for her return. "Is everything okay, Mia? You look a little flushed. Would you like to eat something?" Carlisle suggested with a welcoming smile.

"Yeah." Mia dragged out the single word and gently bobbed her head. "It's all just surreal; I mean…who would have thought that _vampires _existed. I never really ruled out believing in the supernatural, no one should mindlessly follow what they are told… Sorry, I'm rambling." Mia finished with a nervous smile.

"It's kinda cute." Emmett whispered with an impish grin.

"What?" Mia requested for a repeat, not quite hearing what had been said, though it didn't escape the ears of the family members. She looked to Edward who fought back a mischievous smile, Alice bubbled over in sheer delight, and finally to Rosalie; whose face darkened like the sky before a thunder storm.

Alice cleared her throat and grabbed for Mia's hand, "Do you need to be getting home?"

"Probably." Mia confirmed with some reluctance. She was still hesitant to leave the household, not believing a hundred percent that she wouldn't wake up from the strangest dream. "Are you taking me home, Alice?"

"_Actually_, I have a project that I need to finish up before tomorrow. So I was thinking Emmett could take you, since he's the only other one who knows where you live." Alice flashed her brightest smile to her brother and then back to Mia. She glanced back at Emmett who had failed to move from where he remained planted at the table, "Go on, it won't be long before Mia will be back."

Mia shifted her weight uncomfortably, watching the unspoken conversation that seemed to be going on between the siblings. "Emmett, if you don't want to I-"

"Nah, it's cool, let's go." Emmett pushed back his chair in one swift movement and glided toward Mia's side. "My Jeep is out in the back garage; hope you don't mind a walk."

"I think I'll be okay." Mia teased.

Upon hearing the back door shut quietly, the family began talking amongst themselves once, with Rosalie opening the conversation with malice. "How could you do this, Alice!"

"You act like it's the end of the world." Edward rolled his eyes, he too was skeptical when Alice first revealed her plan, but now he was more accepting of the idea after officially meeting Mia.

Rosalie's eyes flashed in anger and looked around the room for support, from anyone. "He's right, dear." Esme began slowly, "It's going to take some getting use to, but you're just going to have to give her a chance. Mia seems like a very nice young lady." Rosalie didn't wait for her mother's explanation before stomping off into the depths of the house.

"I think she's taking it well." Alice bit back a smile.

"She just doesn't want to lose everything." Jasper sympathized, "She doesn't see that she'll have something to gain from it as well."

"That's what I'm saying!" Alice cried happily, patting her other half on the shoulder.

Carlisle smiled gently at his daughter and held up one hand. "Now Alice, don't push so hard. You ought to allow things to play out by themselves with limited involvement. And take it easy around Rose; this will be a big adjustment for her and not a simple one either.

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><p>"Aren't you going to wear your seatbelt?" Mia asked as Emmett pulled out onto the black top.<p>

The vampire grinned in the darkness and took his eyes off the road for a second to steal a look at the girl sitting two feet away. "I'm sort of what you would call, indestructible, one of my many good qualities."

"Oh yeah?" Mia chuckled.

"So what has Alice told you about us? Or about our _kind_?" Emmett inquired out of curiosity. "That we prowl the night looking for innocent victims to suck dry or something good like that?"

Might let out a nervous laugh and subconsciously scratched the back of her head before adverting her gaze to the looming trees that whirled by. "Not in those words. You're umm…what was the word…_vegetarian_ vampires? Meaning that you only get your energy from animals; which then directly affects your eye color. How was that?"

"Not bad, for a **mortal**." Emmett joked, sneaking another look at the anything but plain 'mortal'.

"I'm sorry that I freaked out at lunch today. It was just…" Mia shrugged her shoulders, at a loss of words.

"_Weird_." Emmett finished for her quickly. _That's exactly what it was, nothing more, just plain weird_.

Mia took a deep breath and angled her body towards Emmett, "But I think it was more than just that. Call me crazy, but I felt-"

"Here's your stop!" Emmett interjected with over the top enthusiasm.

Mia let her head drop into her chest for an instant before reaching for the Jeep's handle after feeling the vehicle lurch to a violent stop- 20 yards before her driveway. "Thanks for the ride, Emmett." Mia leapt from the Jeep without another word and shut the door loudly for good measure.

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><p>Sneak Peek:<p>

**_"Here's the thing Mia, I can't stand you." Emmett confessed, not noticing the shock that flashed across her face. "I can't stand you being stuck in my head all day and all night; seeing as we can't sleep, it becomes trying after a few nights. I can't stand the constant pull you have one me. I just can't stand you."_**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	8. Chapter Eight: Monkeys and Bananas

_**Here's the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has favorited and added this story to your alerts! And to those following readers. Let me know what you think.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Monkeys and Bananas<strong>

"Emmett," Edward groaned in mild exasperation, "I'd rather listen to your thoughts revolve around football, baseball, or even hockey. Anything but Mia's cheerful laughter, golden hair, bright sparkling eyes, and how she has a perfectly shaped-"

"It's hard to concentrate with the girls cackling upstairs." Emmett mumbled while mindlessly moving his Rook across the chessboard. "And Alice has decided to keep her for the weekend…"

Edward laughed at his choice of words, "She's not a pet, Emmett. And on the bright side, your distraction has improved your chess game loads." He gestured to the amount of pieces he had lost in comparison to his own. "For once, you've taken more of mine than I yours."

"If you'd stay out of my head we wouldn't have an issue." Emmett challenged sensitive to the fact that his private thoughts weren't so _private _when Edward was in the vicinity. "I wonder what they're doing up there now, they've gotten suspiciously quiet."

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><p>"What's wrong Mia?" Alice frowned; the girl's mood had dropped off in an instant when Alice went to retrieve her vast collection of fingernail polish. Now Mia sat there mindlessly picking at the leftover pain on her nails. "We don't have to do our nails if you don't want to."<p>

"No, it's okay." Mia blinked back a couple tears and gave Alice a small smile. "It's just, my mom and I use to do each other's nails all the time since neither one of us can hold the brush steady enough to do our own." Mia got a faraway look in her eye and suddenly grinned widely, "We had just installed new carpet in the living room and we were sitting on the floor, I don't remember exactly how it happened but we knocked over a full bottle of neon green nail polish. And when we tried to clean it up, it just made the spot bigger."

Alice smiled at the shared memory, "What did your dad say? Did it stain?"

"He was actually out of town that weekend on a business trip. We spent so much money on cleaning supplies; finally we dumped some bleach on it. It got the stain out, but now there was a huge bright white spot on the floor. So we moved a coffee table over the spot and as far as I know, my dad never found out." Mia spurted out another laugh and bit her bottom lip.

"Well," Alice spread her collection out on the space between where they sat cross-legged on the carpet in her room, "I don't think I have any neon green, but this sparkly green would go great with your eyes."

"And I think…" Mia paused in order to dig through the colors in order to find the right one for her friend. "That _midnight blue _would complement your shirt."

Alice beamed and poured some acetone onto a cotton swab to begin the removal of her old paint. "So what is this about you being a door slammer?" She laughed and took Mia's hand in her own. "Emmett was saying something to Edward about it and I only overheard a bit of the conversation."

"I had apologized for my erratic behavior in the lunch room and he called what had happened between us weird. And I was telling him that it felt like something more than that. He then proceeded to slam on the brakes and tell me that this was my stop, we weren't even within twenty of my front door." Mia rambled, her irritation bubbling back to the surface. "But I know he felt something too, that look on his face betrayed him."

"You know how _big tough guys _are, scared of nothing but they're own feelings." Alice mended; she was silent for a moment longer before an idea sparked in her head. "What you two need is some alone time with each other, that'll do the trick and I know just the way."

"_Alice_…" Mia pleaded with wide eyes. "That won't do anything."

"Pish posh, leave it up to me." Alice winked mischievously.

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><p>"Alice, we just went hunting less than a week ago." Jasper protested, thinking his wife was just trying to make sure his thirst was satiated to keep Mia from harm. He knew that she only wanted the best for him, but sometimes it felt as though she smothered him. "And you wouldn't want to leave your guest here alone."<p>

Alice fluttered his thick, black eyelashes at her mate. "I'll tell you later Jaz. And besides, she won't be alone Mia will have Carlisle, Esme, and _Emmett_. Trust me on this."

Emmett looked at Mia and then to Alice before pleading his case with Edward. "Don't you see what she is trying to do here?" Edward merely smirked and rolled his shoulders back in a shrug. "Whose side are you on?"

"If you're that repulsed by the idea of being in the same building as me, I can go home Emmett." Mia suggested, nervous herself at the thought of being left alone without Alice there to guide her.

"Huh?" Emmett raised an eyebrow before processing what she threatened. "No."

Alice smiled at her flustered brother and linked her arm with Jasper's. "Well come on Edward, Rose is already waiting for us at the edge of the woods." She sported a small wave in Mia's direction, "We'll be back tomorrow afternoon sometime. You guys have fun now."

"For the record, this wasn't my idea." Mia defended herself before she could even be accused of being an accomplice.

"Here's the thing Mia, I can't stand you." Emmett confessed, not noticing the shock that flashed across her face. "I can't stand you being stuck in my head all day and all night; seeing as we can't sleep, it becomes trying after a few nights. I can't stand the constant pull you have one me. I just _can't stand you_."

"Well," Mia fought back a smile, "maybe you ought to sit down if you can't stand."

Emmett rolled his eyes, "**That **is _exactly _what I'm talking about. You're too… You're too much of something."

"So you are admitting that there is something here." Mia spoke each word slowly, moving closer to the man who easily towered over her.

"Well," Emmett cleared his throat, "I think they're showing last Sunday's game on ESPN again."

_You've gotta be kidding me_, Mia thought to herself. Just before the vampire was out of reach Mia grabbed part of his arm in order to stop him. "Quit walking away from this, Emmett. It's getting on my nerves."

"_This_?" Emmett spared a look over his shoulder.

Mia let out a belated sigh and let her hand fall back to her side. "I'm going home now, it's been fun."

"Oh no you're not." Emmett contradicted, quickly moving his body so now he stood as a large object for Mia to get around. "When Alice gets back and you're not here, it's going to be my head on a silver platter. So…I'm sorry?"

"That sounds like a question, not an apology." Mia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you want from me woman?" Emmett questioned. He hadn't expected Mia to have such a fiery personality, there was still so much that he had yet to learn about her. Mia's scowl softened immediately after tilting her head back to gaze into his golden eyes. Her annoyance melted away into a pool of contentment, she smiled gently at him to which he returned the favor without realizing it. "_Oh_."

Mia found the strength to nod her head and grazed the tips of her fingers down his forearm. "This is all new for me, too. I've never felt this drawn to anyone before, I am not sure I even know what to make of it.

Emmett's arm tingled in the precise spots where Mia's fingers had roamed. _I think I know exactly what you mean_. "So I guess that makes me something of a chick magnet huh?" He let out a bellowing laugh that forced Mia to shrink back. When he was finally able to control his laughter he saw a less than amused Mia looking up at him. "Wanna watch some movies?"

Mia rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure."

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><p>Emmett sighed and spared another peek at the alarm clock that read 6:59 am in bright red letters. He contemplated remaining in his oversized bed that he only shared with himself, but decided that he would rather begin Mia's day early. After all, he could use some companionship; nights were rough when you couldn't sleep. Emmett dragged himself half-heartedly down the hall and to the left where the guest bedroom was located; he knocked loudly and slumped himself against the frame of the door. "You're not going to sleep all day are you?"<p>

Mia let out a groan and made an attempt to pull the blankets up over her head before she realized that was in fact, not at home. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and started to sit up. "How did I get into bed?"

"You were out cold after a couple movies so I carried you." Emmett answered nonchalantly. "How do you like those monkey pajamas? Nice aren't they, picked 'em out myself. Though I'm not really sure why we had them just-"

"You dressed me!" Mia cried in horror, pulling the blankets up to her chest that was indeed covered in monkey print.

He couldn't hold back his laughter upon seeing her horror-struck face. "Of course not. Esme did. And speaking of, she made you some pancakes before she left. So get with the rising and the shinning."

Mia let out a sigh of relief and began to discard of the blankets that were wrapped tightly around her body. "What time is it anyway?"

"Just after seven." Emmett smiled cheekily. "Good thing I got you up when I did, you would have slept the day away if I wasn't here."

"Oh yes, I might have slept until nine. Now _that _is a true tragedy." Mia sassed, subconsciously fixing the hair that she knew seemed to stick off in every direction. While following mindlessly behind him, Mia took in the monkey and banana pajamas and shook her head. "Were these really necessary?"

"Of course." Emmett chuckled. "I've gotta keep myself entertained some way."

"Ridiculous." Mia mumbled under her breath. She took a seat at the mahogany table while Emmett traveled into the kitchen to retrieve the pile of pancakes out of the oven.

Emmett came back into the room with a plate in one hand and a fork and bottle of syrup balanced in the other. "Breakfast is served."

"Aren't you a gentleman." Mia praised with a cheeky grin, she graciously accepted the meal and began to dig in with a new found hunger. When she took a pause from shoveling the delicious creation into her mouth she found Emmett to be staring with nonchalance. "Must you watch me eat, it's a little unnerving."

"Eh, I've got nothing better to do; so keep eating." Emmett answered with a faked yawn.

Mia reluctantly picked her fork back up to finish off the last few bites before there was nothing left on the china but a few stray crumbs. "So where am I putting this? Do you have a dish washer or anything?" Mia began heading in the direction of the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

"Put it in the sin." Emmett directed, following behind her. "Esme likes to do the dishes. She likes to feel needed, plus she said it makes her feel human, whatever. Being human is **so **over-rated." He joked, nudging Mia in the back playfully.

Mia sat the dirtied dish into the empty sink, "It's not too bad, really." She mused while turning around and almost bumping into Emmett's chest; she hadn't realized his close proximity to her.

"Your heart beat just increased twenty pulses." Emmett laughed with a large grin. He blocked Mia's attempt to side-step him by placing his large hands on the counter behind her, blocking either side. "Scared?"

Mia stuck her tongue out at him in a rapid flash. "Of course not. You just startled me, that's all; I didn't think you were so close behind me. So don't give yourself too much credit there sunshine."

"Spunky little thing aren't you, kid?" Emmett roared in laughter, causing Mia to cringe at the sudden outburst.

"Hey, I can't be that much younger than you, thank you very much." Mia replied curtly.

Emmett cocked an eyebrow at her, perfectly arched. "I was born in 1915 in Tennessee. I was changed into a vampire at the age of twenty. I think I win in the age department."

"Well technically speaking you are way older than me then, but your physical age doesn't make you **that **much older. A little more than two years isn't a big difference." Mia corrected herself quickly after hearing his revelation.

"There you go." He mused with a grin, even though his heart wasn't in it. His gaze became transfixed on the blood that pulsated through her neck- seemingly calling out to him. Emmett tore his gaze away from what he desired and rolled his eyes over her calm-appearing face. He soon found himself leaning down closer to her face, eye transfixed on her pink lips.

Before Mia had time to realize what was occurring, she felt his chilling- but soft- lips on her own; but in an instant they were gone and she was left feeling dazed and a tad confused. "What-"

"Shhh." Emmett hushed quickly; he could feel his own body tense as his lips hovered over hers, barely gliding against them once more. Mia remained motionless and aware of his hesitance when a shudder erupted through her body, but not from the cold- from the anticipation of physical contact with him. Emmett let out an unnoticeable sigh and increased the distance between them immediately.

The front door opened a second later and Esme appeared around the corner. "How were the pancakes, Mia?" The kind woman asked while shoving full bags into Emmett's open arms.

Mia shook off her confusion at what had just happened thirty seconds ago and flashed Esme a bright smile. "They were really good. Great as a matter of fact." So much about Esme reminded Mia of her deceased mother, from her small frame to her relentless kindness.

Esme smiled at the compliment. "I'm glad you liked them Mia, but all I had to do was read instructions on the back of the box. So what have you two been up to so far this morning?"

"_Nothing._" They both answered in unison, after which they caught each other's gaze.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading. Let me know of any <em>QuestionsComments/Concerns/Suggestions_! :]**


	9. Chapter Nine: It's Complicated

**_**Here's it is. Let me know what you think. :)**_**

_****A/N:****_**_** Funny: **_******Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far******_**. Starangel5593:**_******Thanks for the review, I love that you love it, haha******_**. IfLifeWereSilly: **_******Thank you so much for both of your reviews, I'm glad that it's not like the others you have read :)****

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine: It's Complicated<br>**

"So, Mia, are you going to Port Angeles with us this Friday?" Jessica asked as soon as Mia rested her tray down on the mostly empty table.

"Sorry, Jessica, I can't. I already made plans with my aunt that day." Mia gave her an apologetic smile and readied herself to take a bite out of a yellow apple. "I'll go with you another time, okay?"

Ana let out a noise of disgust. "Tell your aunt that you can't?"

"She works a lot and she took off Friday so we could do some hiking and climb some mountains; I won't even be in school that day. I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with her recently; it will be nice for us to just be together- the two of us." Mia explained with a hint of defensiveness, Jenna really was her only close family after all.

"You've spending a lot of time with the Cullens lately." Jessica noted with a bit of animosity.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Jess." Mia pointed out. She wasn't completely sure how Jessica had come to that conclusion, it's not like they spent time out in the public eye. Unless people had noticed that Emmett moved back to his once-normal spot next to her in class, but even then it wasn't anything major.

"I just don't know why they would pick you." Jessica said without thinking. Her hand flew to her mouth and her blue eyes grew wide, not believing that she had said that out loud. "Oh my God, I am so sorry. I didn't mean it, Mia."

Mia frowned, she had thought that Jessica could be insensitive sometimes, but she had never known her to be flat out hurtful. "Yes you did, otherwise you wouldn't have said it. But don't worry about it, we all say things we don't mean some times…"

A few tables away Edward let out a low hiss after listening to what his advanced ears had picked up. _Yet another reason, __**not **__to like Jessica_. "Alice, why don't you ask Mia to sit with us at lunch tomorrow?"

"Really Edward, I can!" Alice squealed in utter delight, forgetting for a moment that they were in a packed lunch room. "What made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

Edward had been adamant about accepting Mia into their lunch room clique; he hadn't wanted to endanger her any more than necessary. But he decided that she didn't need to surround herself with the kind of people that were going to hurt and tear her down. Mia didn't deserve that, "I just thought it would be nice. That's all." He lied without thinking, though Emmett caught the waver in his eyes and knew something wasn't right.

Emmett angled his chair just right so that he could look in Mia's general direction without really _looking _in her direction. When his searching eyes finally found her, he saw that instead of laughing and joking with her friends she mindlessly pushed around the pale noodles on her tray. The corners of his lips dipped down into a rarely seen frown and he decided that he would ask her in Study Hall after lunch.

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><p>By the time Mia had dragged herself into the fairly empty study hall class, the late bell had just been rung. But that fact had barely fazed her, it had been running through her mind since Jessica's rash comment at the beginning of lunch. There wasn't much she had regretted in life thus far, but what she had said that night, or hadn't of said.<p>

"You're quiet today, normally you're too peppy to handle." Emmett tried to rile her up, but to no avail.

"Sorry, I was getting stuck in my own head." Mia heaved her heavy math book out of her book bag and plopped it down on their shared table. She gave it a long look before retrieving a notebook, Mia planned to at least _look _like she planned on doing some work. She could, but her heart wouldn't be in it; that vital organ was in California.

"Mia, I'm not good with the whole 'feelings and emotion' thing, but if you tell me what's up I might be able to help." Emmett suggested hopefully, it unnerved him to see her so forlorn.

Mia smiled at his attempt to assist her, at least he tried. "It's nothing really, someone said something that made me think of home earlier and I just can't shake it. _It all gets better in time_." Mia quoted the last part from a song she had heard in on the way to school. "If you're not doing anything important after school today, I need some help with homogeneous system of equations. It's not really sticking."

"Do you really need my help, or are you just trying to hang out?" Emmett joked; he hadn't heard her ask questions in class before so he assumed she knew the subject well.

"Both." Mia admitted with a sheepish grin. "And I just don't want to be home alone; a little company other than the puppy would be nice."

"All you had to do was ask." Emmett grinned, happy to get some sort of smile out of Mia. "I'll be seeing you after school then; I'll just follow you out."

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><p>"She's gotten big since the last time I saw her." Emmett observed the white fluff ball that couldn't keep still when Mia pushed her way through the front door. Nika let out a high pitched bark and jumped up to balance on her hind legs.<p>

"Down." Mia instructed firmly, she waited until the puppy listened before she scratched behind her ears. "Yeah, she's about twelve weeks now, she's grown pretty fast. Feel free to put your stuff down anywhere." Mia relieved the load of her full bag on the wooden floor by the couch and rested her purse down next to the rest of it.

"What time is Jenna going to be back?" Emmett asked before throwing himself down onto the black love seat that was situated directly in front of the television. Mia shrugged her shoulders at the question and continued petting the dog, "Well, can you tell me where the remote is?"

Mia gaffed and wagged her finger at him, "Oh no, you're going to help me with my math homework. That's what you're here for, not to sponge off of my satellite." Mia hooked Nika's chain to her collar and opened the door, giving the pup and opportunity to romp around in the yard for a bit.

"That sounds boring, what do I get out of it?" Emmett raised his eyebrows suggestively at Mia, only to drop them when she merely looked away and began getting school materials out of her bag. Emmett heaved himself from the couch and approached Mia from behind; in an instant he wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her. Mia let out a surprised cry, not anticipating the contact- to his enjoyment. "Just tryin' to liven things up a bit."

"You gave me a bit of a heart attack there. Element of surprise: achieved." Mia gasped out, fighting to regain her nerves. After restoring her head she drummed her fingers on Emmett's arms that were still tightly wrapped about her waist in a comforting manner. "You can let go anytime you want."

"Maybe I-" He was only able to get out a few syllables before Mia cut him off.

"Nika, what are you barking at out there?" Mia wiggled out of his slackened grip and pranced over to the front door that she threw back without pause. What she saw was a small moving truck and a brown haired girl, with her hands on her hips, looking at the house in front of her. "Looks like Chief Swan's daughter finally arrived."

Emmett hung back in the doorway while Mia went to retrieve the not so ferocious dog. "I didn't know he had a daughter, learn somethin' knew every day."

"Jenna invites him over for dinner on occasion since he lives by himself, he told us a couple weeks ago actually." Mia replaced the stray hairs that had been blown by the wind. "She's here from Arizona, her mother just got married so she was coming to stay with him. He was so excited; I thought Chief Swan was going to burst."

"Fascinating." Emmett faked interest, "Now, don't you have Calculus that you needed help with?"

"I was thinking that I should go say _hey _or something." Mia argued, though without much fight.

"Nah." Emmett shook his head and lifted her heavy pack seamlessly onto one of his shoulders, "You should probably give her some time to get all settled in before you go get in her face, ya know?"

Mia let out a soft laugh, "You win. My room is this way."

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><p>"Mia!" Jenna called from outside her niece's bedroom before turning the knob and letting herself in, just as there was uproar of laughter that caught her off guard. Mia herself was lying on her bed- face buried in a pillow with waves of laughter still trickling out. Jenna's gaze soon fell on the muscled young man who lay sprawled out on the floor with what looked like a calculus book on his head. She instantly recognized the attractive male as one of Doctor Carlisle's adoptive children. "I just wanted to bring you a list of things you out to pack for our trip Friday. Who knew math could be so fun."<p>

When Mia finally caught her breath she introduced the two strangers to one another, "Emmett this is my lovely Aunt Jenna. And Jenna, this is my…friend, Emmett. We were trying to do some math homework."

"Hey." Emmett looked over his shoulder and nodded at the doctor.

"Nice to meet yet _another_ member of the esteemed Cullen family that I hear so much about." Jenna smiled, looking from Emmett to Mia and the sparkle that she had yet to see in her niece's eye for some time had returned. _Friend, yeah…right_. "I don't want to intrude, so you kids have fun. And Mia, I'm probably going to visit the Swan's next door after dinner."

Mia nodded in recognition of the invitation and gave her aunt a small wave as her bedroom door was closed again. Emmett cleared his throat and restored the Calculus book to its original form and stood up, "I guess I should be going now, huh?"

"If you want." Mia pulled herself into a sitting position, hugging the pillow to her body. "But can I have my book back before you leave?"

"I guess." Emmett grinned mischievously. He approached her bed and dropped his head to her ear level and softly whispered, "See you in class." He then let the heavy book fall next to her on the bed, leaving Mia speechless as she watched him leave.

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><p>"He kissed you!" Alice screeched through the phone as soon as Mia had answered the call on her cell phone. "When did this happen? And you didn't tell me, why didn't you tell me?"<p>

Mia took a seconds pause, soaking it all in before she responded. "He told you?"

"Well…uh…not really. Edward mentioned it in casual conversation to me like I had already heard about it, because he heard it through the thought vine." Alice explained, a bit more calmed down by this point. "So come one, dish it out."

"So he was thinking about it? I don't understand why he would still be thinking about it since it happened when I was at your house and everyone **abandoned **me." Mia said in her best whisper voice, this wasn't exactly the kind of thing she wanted her aunt to overhear.

"AH! So he really did! Edward and I had just assumed, because he was thinking that before he left your house today he should have tried something again. And we could only assume that _again _had meant that he already had." Alice sucked in an unnecessary breath before continuing. "This is so exciting Mia, you have to tell me _everything!_"

Mia let out a nervous chuckle when Jenna cast her a sideways glance, it was safe to assume that she could hear Alice's projecting voice. "Alice, you actually caught me at a bad time, I'm supposed to go over and meet one of the new neighbors so let me call you about this later, alright?"

"Fine." Alice grumbled. "**But **you had better call me back or answer when I call you, missy."

"Yeah, yeah." Mia sassed while sliding on a pair of her black flip flops. "I gotta go, so we'll talk later for sure."

Jenna cleared her throat and shot Mia a knowing smirk. "_So,_ what was all that about? Your friend Alice sounded rather exciting about something that you weren't so willing to talk about in front of me."

"It wasn't that at all." Mia covered. "Alice is always like that, you should know that by now. I just wanted to get off the phone before meeting Chief Swan's daughter; I wouldn't want to appear rude."

"Oh it's fine if you don't want to talk about that boyfriend of yours." Jenna winked at her and ushered her niece out the front door.

Mia's mouth dropped open and she gave her head a violent shake for a bit of effect. "No, no. Emmett Cullen isn't my _boyfriend_, Jenna. He's just a friend whose company I enjoy and someone I like to spend time with. There's nothing there." And Mia wasn't sure if that was a complete lie- or where she stood with him.

"_Uh-huh_." Jenna rolled her eyes playfully. "He may not be your boyfriend, but he's certainly not just your friend, Mia. I know how friends act around one another and all that jazz. And if you've seen the way he looks at you, you would know **exactly **what I was talking about here."

"It's complicated." Mia edged in just as the front door to the Swan household was opened with gusto.

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><p><strong>AN: The story should pick up and move a lot faster now that Bella has entered on scene and it will follow the plot of the book with my own plot mixed in.**

**Thanks for reading! Let me know of any Questions/Comments/Concerns/or Suggestions :]**


	10. Chapter Ten: My Hero

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, I had a ton of papers to write & I had a bit of a block. Anywho... Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enoy it. As always let me know of any Questions/Comments/Concerns/Suggestions :)**

**Funny: Thank you so much, sorry it took so long to get this update out, Hope you like it. Bookwormandproudofit: That means a lot to me, thank you for reading :]**

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten: My Hero<strong>

"The view up here is gorgeous, isn't it?" Mia set her water bottle down beside her on the edge and let her slender legs hang over the ledge. "Coming here in August, I never would have guessed that there was something this beautiful in the world; so thank you Jenna."

"Anything to make you smile." Jenna squeezed her niece's shoulder while also gazing out at the green scenery that lay sprawled out beneath them. The hundred year old trees grew to such great heights, though they could not reach the ledge the women rested on. The climb up to this point had taken longer than they had expected, close to five hours. Jenna hadn't foreseen the path to be quite so slippery, something that hadn't been considered when the initial planning of the trip took place.

Mia stood up and brushed her hands on her thick pants. "I guess we should start heading back down, hopefully it won't take quite so long. We've burned a lot of daylight and it's only going to get colder as the sun goes down; and we didn't think to bring any flashlights…"

"Even if it takes five hours down, we should arrive by seven. Plenty of time to get down before the sun sets, Mia, don't worry about it." Jenna explained playfully, there was no need for her to become anxious, "And it sounds like we have company."

"Hmmm?" Mia turned and looked in the direction Jenna was facing; she hadn't heard another group that was close behind them when they first began their trek up the mountain side. She was surprised, thought knew she shouldn't have been when she saw who it was, "Alice. Emmett. What are you guys doing here?"

Alice waved enthusiastically at the pair before replying, "We normally don't see people up on this trail so late in the hiking season. But you know how we are, unsettled by being cooped up indoors all day."

"Well we're going to head on down the rocks; Mia's worried about getting back down before dark." Jenna poked fun and motioned for her niece to follow her lead.

"Let me help you, it'll be slippery!" Alice jumped to Jenna's side before her Aunt could take another step. Jenna gave Alice a surprised look as if questioned what the petite young woman could do to help her, but remained silent.

Once Jenna was just out of ear shot Mia looked to Emmett, "Now what's the real reason for you guys being up here? I don't recall telling any of you just _where _we were going for our hike because it was just supposed to be the two of us."

"Alice had an unpleasant vision, so we came to make sure you both made it down the mountain alright." Emmett replied in a hushed tone. "You two seemed to pick an odd time to hit the rocks as we enter into winter, but who am I to judge."

"Define _unpleasant_." Mia ignored his playful jab at what she and Jenna had decided to do on such a pleasant December day.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, we're here now and no one is going to slide off the path and hurt themselves." Emmett joked, even though what Alice had seen was _much _darker than that. Emmett was just heading to his last class of the day when Alice intercepted him; she had a vision that foresaw Jenna miss-stepping and falling off the trail and tumbling down the Cliffside. It would have been something no human could have survived.

Mia gave him a suspicious sideways glance but shrugged it off; after all, ignorance is bliss. "My hero?"

"I'll accept that title." Emmett rumbled, reaching his hand out in time to stop Mia from stumbling on a large rock she hadn't seen. "You certainly have the whole _damsel in distress _factor working for you." Once Mia had regained her balance he released her elbow and surpressed another laugh at the face she was giving him.

Mia pursed her lips and rested a hand on each hip. "I'm not a damsel in distress, I can take care of myself. I may not be _perfect _like you, but I've manage pretty close to eighteen years without you."

Emmett cocked an eyebrow at her and grinned, "You think I'm perfect?"

"Uh…that's not…. I didn't…" Mia felt her cheeks light up. She could imagine that they were a bright red and getting darker by the moment as his amber eyes rolled over her.

"Don't worry, if it wasn't for your big green eyes, your slightly pointed ears, and your round-tipped nose you'd be perfect yourself." Emmett joked, giving her nose a slight flick. Mia's mouth dropped in a cliché fashion after he finished his list of what he called imperfections, increasing his laughter when she felt the tips of ear self-conciously. "I was just kidding, Mia." _You are perfect_.

Mia furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest, "You, Emmett Cullen, are a jerk."

"Oh come on." All he needed was a few elongated steps to catch up with her after she stomped off to catch up with her aunt and Alice. "You didn't really think I was being serious did you? You have stunning eyes, perfectly rounded ears, and a cute nose."

"Uh huh." Mia brushed off his amends, either way her self-esteem had taken a slight blow by his joking.

Emmett let out a loud sigh and grabbed Mia's sides from behind and held her firmly in place, and he didn't need Jasper's gift to know that her frustration was melting away just from being so close to him. "I'm sorry." He whispered delicately, brushing his lips over her ear. "Now, say you forgive me."

Mia felt a shiver race down her spine and goosebumps spring up over her arms. "No."

"Don't be difficult, Mia." Emmett growled playfully and pulled Mia's back into his chest, holding her there for a few seconds before lessening his grip on her sides- gliding his hands down to her hips. "Are you ticklish?" His fingers immediately danced across her soft flesh and over her stomach.

Mia's outburst of loud giggles mixed with a squeal of surprise was interrupted by a high pitched command. "Come on guys, keep up!" Alice shouted from around the bend, already out of sight. Mia wiggled free, flashed Emmett a playful grin and began carefully jogging down the path to catch back up. _I could get use to this_, Emmett thought happily to himself.

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><p>"So do you think you're ready for finals week, Mia?" Jenna asked over the spaghetti dinner they had prepared together.<p>

Mia held up one finger while she finished chewing the food in her mouth after swallowing she preceded, "Yeah, actually for once. I don't think I'll be doing any last minute cramming. I finished most of the study guides already; I know everything as well as I am going to." Mia was hoping this would help her case when she prepared her question.

Jenna smiled and looked across the table at her niece with a raised eyebrow, "It looks like you have something else going on in that little head of yours. So, what's you're angle?"

"It amazes me how well you know me, Jen." Mia chuckled under her breath before taking a small bite out of her breadstick. "So, the Cullens are kind of going on a back packing/camping kind of trip on Tuesday and Wednesday…" Mia stated slowly, watching her aunt for any negative signs; Jenna only made an _uh huh_ noise that prompted her further. "And they invited me to go. I know it's during finals week and I'll miss school but-"

"You can go." Jenna agreed, wondering herself if she was being a bit too loose with Mia; she was hardly ever home and missed school more frequently than most other students. But she still couldn't bring herself to hold her back and as long as she kept her grades up, it was a-okay with her.

"**Really**!" A grin spread across Mia's face, almost reaching from ear to ear.

Jenna nodded her head and leaned slightly across the table, "But there are probably a few things you should know. It's going to be quite cold, even with a heater in the tent or whatever; so you'll need to pack warm clothes. And just be careful, Mia."

"Don't worry; they aren't going to let me get hurt." Mia squirmed with excitement in the dining room chair.

Jenna cleared her throat, "That's not exactly what I meant. _Safety _is important, and I don't want to know anything, just be careful." Jenna waited to see a response in her niece's eyes but only saw confusion. "Okay, how do I say this delicately…if you and Emmett are having-"

"Oh my god, Jenna!" Mia shouted without meaning to. "No. It's not like that."

"I'm just sayin', I know a thing or two about teenagers. I was one myself once." Jenna smiled at the memory of her own teenage years.

"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Mia proposed, shoveling a large spoonful of noodles into her mouth so she wouldn't have to talk anymore.

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><p>"I don't see why she has to come." Rosalie grumbled to no one in particular while helping to load the camping materials into the back of Emmett's Jeep.<p>

"You'd probably actually like her if you talked to her Rose." Edward suggested with a cheeky grin. But from Rosalie's thoughts about Mia, he knew there was no chance of her accepting Mia even if she did try to get to know her. She held a territorial position over Emmett, as she did save him from death, and Rose viewed Mia as an unwelcomed intrusion.

"Speaking of Mia," Carlisle glanced around at the faces of his family, "Shouldn't she have been back by now with Alice?"

Emmett shrugged his shoulders with nonchalance, "You know how Alice is, she probably didn't approve of the clothes Mia was bringing. So she's probably digging through Mia's closet to find the _appropriate _clothing choice."

"They just turned onto the road." Jasper pointed out calmly.

"So let's load up then." Esme clapped her hands together happily. "Edward and Rosalie, I believe you two are with us for the trip." Esme gestured toward the rented Jeep; they very well couldn't have taken any of their posh vehicles off roading and on the back roads where they were going.

"Come on you slow pokes, they're going to beat us to the mountain." The ever so competitive Emmett barked playfully as both doors to Alice's sports car opened.

Alice snubbed her brother and told Mia to go ahead and get into the Jeep. "Since you're in such a big hurry, you can get her things out of the back." She gestured with her thumb to the popped trunk and skipped toward the Jeep. When Emmett had moved she patted his arm, "Go on. They aren't going to get themselves."

Emmett rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. "Two suitcases Alice!" He grabbed them with two hands and tossed them into the back of the Jeep. "Something makes me think that was your idea since no one else would pack **that **much for a two day trip."

"Well it certainly wasn't my idea." Mia cast an accusing look back at Alice in the back seat with Jasper. "I only intended to bring a book bag shoved full of clothes; but of course, _that just wasn't going to work_. That's a direct quote."

"It's not my fault that you don't know how to pack clothes properly, that's something that we will have to work on together." Alice stated in a matter of fact manner.

* * *

><p>"Have you ever pitched a tent before?" Emmett asked after they reached the resting point for the night.<p>

"I may have grown up in Sacramento, but my parents made a point to go camping or floating down a river at least once every summer. No matter how busy we were with our own things." Mia revealed on a sad note. "Long story short, yes, I have."

"Then get yourself over here and help." Emmett laughed. He pointed to the pole he wanted her to hold while he fed it through on the other side.

Mia chuckled and followed his lead, "You looked like you had it all under control. I didn't want to get in your way."

"Likely story." Emmett smirked in the setting sun. "So your parents, they were the outdoorsy type?"

Mia shrugged her shoulders, "No I don't think it was that per say. They both worked a lot and as you know, I lived in a big bustling city. I think they just wanted to get away from it all every once in awhile. Sometimes they would just pull me out of school and that night we'd be popping up a tent somewhere where you could actually see the stars at night."

"Oh yeah?" Emmett moved to the next corner and motioned for Mia to follow his lead. "You just never striked me as a nature person, so I was just curious."

Mia laughed and nodded her head at him. "I'm not going to go hug a tree or sleep out on a blanket just for kicks, but it was nice spending time with them like that. Back home I was involved in a bunch of organizations, a couple sports, and in my free time from all of that I really didn't spend much time at home… Looking back, I regret always going out with friends."

"You didn't know." Emmett sympathized, throwing the final touches over on the tent- the rain fly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it okay. Ya know?" Mia sighed and brushed her bangs from her eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it anymore."

Emmett cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, "We did one hell of a job putting this tent up, here, throw this in there." Without much more warning he tossed a large bag in Mia's general direction.

"A sleeping bag I presume?" Mia turned it over in her hands before unzipping the front of the tent. "_Keeps you comfortable in temperatures as low as -20 degrees_. Well that's assuring."

"It's not going to get that cold here tonight, you won't need to worry 'bout freezing." Emmett let out a hearty laugh before passing more things down their make shift assembly line; including another sleeping bag and Mia's two suitcases full of Alice-approved items. "I trust you like s'mores? If not, just humor Esme. She was excited when you confirmed that you were coming along."

Mia smiled brightly; she hadn't had one of those little pieces of heaven in quite some time. "They're sort of my camping weakness." Mia closed the zipper and brushed her hands off. "Can I ask you how you…became a vampire?"

"I leave that spooky ghost story for tonight before you go to sleep." Emmett grinned suspiciously.

"I don't know if I'll be awake long enough for that." Mia yawned the last few syllables, a four hour drive into some back country and a three hour hike really wears a person out.

"Guess you're too tired for a s'more then, huh?" Emmett rolled his shoulders nonchalantly while flashing Mia a teasing grin.

Mia playfully slapped his marble shoulder and shook away the tingling sensation that the impact brought. "Of course not!"

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><p>"Are you guys up to going on the midnight hike with us, Emmett?" Carlisle extended the invitation; afterall, it was really the only thing that would keep them entertained being the night dwellers they were.<p>

"I gotta put sleepy head here to bed." Emmett nudged Mia's side gently. At the sudden interruption Mia lifted her head from where it had slumped against his shoulder and let out an extended yawn. "You guys can go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later." Though everyone knew he wasn't going to be leaving Mia by herself.

Rosalie let out a low hiss at the presumption that he was choosing another person over her and the rest of the family. "She doesn't need a baby sitter. I think she's perfectly capable of tucking herself into bed."

"Come on, Rose." Alice tugged at her sister's elbow.

"Do you think you can walk or am I going to have to carry you?" Emmett inquired playfully after pulling her to her feet.

Mia sleepily flicked her wrist at him. "I got this." She let out one last yawn before dragging her feet to the tent she had helped set up earlier. "And I believe I get a bed time story, remember?"

"Whatever you say, princess." Emmett took the sleeping bag Mia had picked up and began unzipping it, much to her surprise. "Trust me. This will make it much more comfortable for you and you'll still be just as warm. Scoot that way a little bit." He gave her a gentle nudge with his hips.

"It's a pretty small area, I can only scoot so much." Mia countered with furrowed eyebrows, all the while watching him spread the sleeping bag on the floor of the tent. Once that was completed he unzipped the second one and laid it down like a blanket. "Can I lay down now or are you going to do some other fancy nonsense stuff?"

"Oooo you're catty when you're tired," Emmett rumbled, "But go ahead, pop a squat."

Mia collapsed on the bedding and quickly snuggled underneath the covers, "Alright spill the beans now, satisfy my curiousity."

"It was 1935 and I was out grizzly hunting in Tennessee when one got ahold of me, and let's just say that back then I wasn't much of a match for it- since then the times have changed, but I was pretty close to death when she found me." Emmett started with the small background details, "_She _being Rosalie. When I saw her thought I had already died and gone to heaven, because at the time I had never seen a woman who was a beautiful as she was."

"Rose carried me over a hundred miles to Carlisle, hoping that he could save me. Save me by turning me into a vampire that is; Carlisle is the most resistant to human blood compared to the rest of us, that's why she asked him. He tried to give me pain killers but the venom from the transformation killed it off." Emmett finished his memory and checked Mia's face for any reaction to what he had said.

"So Rosalie saved you then?" Mia's thoughts raced at the mention of her name, how could she possibly even hope to compete with someone as flawless as Rose.

Emmett cocked his head at the human girl and could tell that something was bothering her. "What's bothering you, Mia?" When she didn't answer his question he pulled her up into a sitting position and locked eyes with her. "If you were listening to me I said **at the time **she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Since then, someone else has entered the picture."

"I just don't understand." Mia sighed, breaking eye contact and looking past him in the dark tent. "Everyone at our school says that the two of you are _together_. I feel like I'm getting mixed signals here, Emmett."

Emmett let out a short laugh, "You're killing me Mia. Rose and I _do _have a special kind of bond, I mean it's not every day that someone saves you from being mauled to death by a bear, but it's not in the way that everyone else might think. You shouldn't believe everything that you're told anyway."

Hearing that Mia began to relax, "Why doesn't she like me?"

"For whatever reason she has, she's done a hell of a good job keeping it to herself." Emmett admitted with a shake of his head. "But are we good now? Is there anything else you're confused about?"

"Just _one _thing." Mia whispered while leaning forward, edging herself closer to his face before their lips finally met for a spilt second. She smiled at his confused facial expression, "I just had to make sure that I liked kissing you."

"Oh yeah?" Emmett challenged with a grin, letting his forehead remain pressed against hers, feeling the heat from her body wash over his cold skin comforted him. "And what's the verdict."

"I guess I can work with that." Mia smirked before meeting his awaiting lips for a second time.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading, I hope you all like it, Let me know :)<strong>


	11. Chapter Eleven: Cappuccino and Candycane

_**Sorry it took so long to publish! I had a major block and not much time to write due to College. I'm about to be on break, so that should help things. As Always, thank you SOOOO much for your reviews. I love them :)**_

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><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: Cappuccino and Candy Canes<strong>

"Okay, what do you have left to buy?" Alice questioned while peeking at the scrawled handwriting on a ripped piece of paper.

Mia paused before glancing over the hard to read list, "Looks like I just need to get something for Jenna and then Emmett." She sighed and gave her thin shoulders a shrug. "I don't even have the slightest idea what I should give Jenna, she's given me so much… And Emmett, what could he possibly want?"

"I think the only thing Emmett wants, is you." Alice assured her while stopping in front of a glass window that had an eye-catching pair of boots for sale. "I wouldn't worry about getting him anything, but if you do, anything you give him will be great. Now, Jenna, she's going to be the tricky one… What size shoe does she wear?"

Mia laughed and linked her arm with Alice's, "Jenna is hardly ever out of her scrubs, and when she is she's dressed for comfort. She probably wouldn't wear a pair of three inch boots, but good try. Let's keep looking."

"Alright, don't say I didn't try to help you." Alice shook her head and hooked her arm with Mia's. "Are you and Jenna doing anything special for Christmas, or go anywhere?"

"No, she's actually going to be working Christmas Eve and day. We talked about it before she agreed to pick up the extra hours for someone who wanted to go on vacation with their family." Mia couldn't help but feel a void in her chest opening at the thought of not being able to spend the Holidays with her parents. "But I'll have Nika, a cup of cappuccino, and candy canes to help me through it." Mia joked light heartedly.

Alice gave Mia's arm a light and affectionate squeeze, "You're both welcome at our house Christmas Day, it's not like we're going anywhere anytime soon."

"Thanks Alice, I appreciate that." Mia nodded her head and came to an abrupt stop in front of a glass window, causing Alice to jerk back for a moment. "I know the perfect gift for Jenna, but I may need some help with it."

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><p>"You guys done yet?" Emmett inquired, leaning in the entrance to Alice's bedroom. He surveyed the room that had been nearly destroyed with glitter, ribbons, and shreds of colored paper. "It almost looks like a rainbow threw up all over your carpet, Alice."<p>

"We'd probably get done faster if you would stop bugging us." Alice mused without removing her eyes from the photo she had begun pasting. "And if you would stop distracting Mia, every time you enter the room, she stops working."

Mia felt her cheeks heat up slightly and pushed herself up off her stomach from where she lay on the carpet. "If I knew you were such a slave driver Alice, I would have done it all myself." Mia teased playfully before stretching her stiffened joints, "Besides, I could use a break."

"_That's _what I'm talkin' about." Emmett grinned, pulling Mia in close to his chest. He gave her an affectionate squeeze and rested his chin on the top of her blonde head.

"Mia, come on." Alice whined pathetically. "There are only a few more days until Christmas and we need to finish Jenna's present.

Mia laughed softly and unwrapped her arms from around Emmett's thick torso but didn't turn back to her friend. "If it takes us more than three days to finish the scrap book, then I think we have bigger problems. Besides, we're already more than halfway done with it and it looks great. I hope Jenna thinks so too."

"She's going to love it." Emmett assured Mia. He glanced toward the pictures that were still scattered over the floor and couldn't suppress the bellowing laughter that over spilled. "Unless of course you have too many pictures of _that _attractive face." He released Mia from his grip and picked up the photograph he was referring to.

"You mean you don't absolutely love it?" Mia joined in with a soft laugh. "That's actually one of my favorite pictures of us together. She said to make a silly face so I stuck my tongue out as if I was going to lick her and I actually did. Her eyes got so huge and at that exact moment she took the picture. I have it in a frame in my room."

"Well, as long as you love it." Emmett joked with a mischievous grin.

Mia gave him a playful slap and moved to sit back down next to Alice, who was still diligently working away. "Oh Em, Jenna wanted me to invite you over on Christmas Eve. She's working the morning shift at the hospital, but she'll be back around dinner time. So I expect you to come keep Nika and I company, and for some crazy reason Jenna likes you."

"Well with an attitude like that, I might already have plans." Emmett teased lightly, giving Alice the photo he held in his hand. He pressed his lips briefly to the top of Mia's head before heading out of the room, "But since I like you so much, I guess I can squeeze you into my busy schedule."

"Get out of here." Alice's words were accompanied by a glue bottle flying through the air that ultimately crashed into the shut bedroom door. She regained her composure and turned to Mia, "So you haven't told me yet…what are you getting Emmett for Christmas? I know you decided on something because you stopped asking me for ideas."

Mia smiled mischievously at her best friend, "Now that, Alice, is a highly guarded secret."

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><p>"It's really started to snow hard outside." Mia observed through the frosted glass window by the front door.<p>

"Luckily you're stuck inside with me then." Emmett pressed a steaming cup of hot chocolate into Mia's awaiting hands and quietly assessed her while she took her first sip. "Why are you looking so worried, afraid that the snowflakes are going to break in and smother you while you sleep?"

Mia laid her head back against his chest and took another short sip before replying. "I just don't want Jenna to end up stuck at the hospital and have her end up missing our first Christmas together; however short it's going to be."

"Last I checked we weren't supposed to get enough snow for anyone to end up being snowed in, so don't sweat it." Emmett assured the troubled young lady with a charming smile, "But if that did happen, you'd be in the best of hands."

"I presume that you are referring to yourself, hot shot?" Mia teased and migrated back to the couch. "Have you gotten tired of watching Christmas movies yet?"

"You mean you have more than the first three that we've seen since I arrived this morning." Emmett gave her a cheeky grin before riffling through the remaining pile of movies that hadn't been touched yet. "Are you feeling _Home Alone_ or_ How the Grinch Stole Christmas_?"

Mia curled herself up into the corner of the couch and pulled a blanket close, "Hmmm. That's a tough one, but I think I'm feeling the Grinch the most. It is a classic after all; you can never go wrong with those."

"Good choice." Emmett agreed while slipping the disk into the DVD player before joining Mia on the couch. Not thinking she was close enough, he reached over and gave Mia's waist a gentle tug, "Scoot yourself over here."

"Don't spill my hot chocolate!" Mia squealed in surprise, loud enough to startle Nika from where she napped in her powder blue bed in the far corner of the living room. "Hot chocolate is necessary for life and should not be wasted by such antics."

Emmett let a laugh rumble out and continued to adjust Mia until his body molded just right around hers, "Oh please, I've lived just fine without hot chocolate." _But you on the other hand… _He swooped his head down to steal a kiss but at the last minute Mia turned her head and he was left to only catch her cheek. "Hey! What was that for?"

Mia smacked his chest lightly with the back of her hand and made a _shhhing _noise with her mouth. "The movie is starting."

"Oh I see how it is. After this movie, you're all mine." He promised before blowing a puff of air into Mia's ear."

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><p>"You know what Mia?" Emmett started, nudging Mia's weight off of him gently just as the ending credits were rolling onto the dark screen. Mia turned to face him sheepishly and made a <em>hmmm <em>noise to show him that she would listen to whatever he had to say, "I think you made my heart grow-"

But before he was able to finish his sentence, the only light that was lit in the house flickered off and remained that way. Mia sat up at attention and looked around in shock. "What just happened, did we lose power? Is it really that bad outside?"

"Calm down." Emmett soothed, pulling her back onto the couch when she moved to stand up. "We might have just tripped a circuit breaker, you stay here and I'll go down in the basement and check out the electrical panel. I doubt we lost power because of the snow, who knows, the lights may kick back on before too long."

"Okay. . ." Mia sighed, thankful that it was only four in the afternoon so the house was only beginning to get dark. A sudden burst of light from the coffee table pulled her eyes away from Emmett's retreating figure. A split second later, the ringtone on her phone began playing. "Hey, Jen."

"Are you kids alright, did you lose power at the house?" There was an undertone of worry in the calm doctor's voice.

"About thirty seconds ago, Emmett is going to go check the breakers though in case we just set one off. Are you still at the hospital, when do you plan on getting back?" Mia chewed on her bottom lip and pulled back the blinds from a window in the living room. A disheartening sigh slipped through her lips when she saw nothing but a white canvas instead of the other neighboring houses.

Jenna muttered something to a nurse before focusing her attention back on her niece, "I don't think that is going to be possible for several hours honey. We lost power here at the hospital, but the generators kicked on. And I doubt the director is going to allow any of us to leave, seeing as how we can't even see anything out the windows. Looks like Forks got caught in its very first blizzard in a very long time."

"Will you be back before your next shift tomorrow?" Mia asked the question even though she knew in her heart what the answer was going to be.

"At this point, I'm not sure Mia." Jenna didn't attempt to sugar coat her response; she was every bit as disappointed as Mia was. "I have to get going, but if you get cold there are extra blankets in the closet in my bedroom and there is a portable heater, like ones you take camping down in the basement somewhere. You can just set it up in the kitchen or wherever. If the power is off for too long, you can always toss the meat in the freezer out into the snow." She tried to laugh at the last part but struggled. "I'll call you when I figure things out, love you."

"Love you too. Bye." Mia reciprocated before ending the call and putting her phone right back where she had it. "Seems like the power is out all over town, Jenna just called." Mia spoke allowed when she heard Emmett's footsteps headed back. "And I want you to know, that I am blaming you for all of this snow mister."

Emmett laughed and gingerly rested his hands on either side of Mia's hips. "Oh really? And why is this unfortunate incident my fault?"

"Because," Mia started wrapping her arms loosely around his neck, "You said that the snow wasn't going to get much worse. And look what happened, we ended up stuck in a blizzard away from our families on Christmas Eve."

"I'm sure I could always find a way to get us back to everyone else if you're that worried about being snowed in with me." He gave her a toothy grin, knowing that he would get to spend some much needed alone time with her.

"No, that's okay." Mia smiled up at him softly. "Because I think you made my heart grow three times too big as well."

"Care to elaborate on that matter?" Emmett smiled mischievously, his smile stretching clear across his face.

Mia bit down gently on her lip and shook her head slowly. "No. Because then it would spoil my Christmas present for you."

"Spoil away." Emmett encouraged, locking his amber eyes with her green orbs. Mia ran one hand up the back of his neck and ran her fingers over his short hair, her eyes still boring into his without saying a word. "Your heart sped up significantly." He chuckled in amusement, silently marveling at the effect that he had on her.

"Shut up." Mia rolled her eyes and inched up onto the tips of her toes, barely grazing his lips. "I . . . still can't believe we're stuck in the middle of a blizzard." That was not the phrase she had intended to let slip, but it had come out anyway.

Emmett looked a bit confused at first; even a little surprised but quickly hid his emotions away behind a laugh. "Welcome to winter time in Forks."

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. Let me know of any CommentsQuestions/Concerns/Thoughts if you wish :)**


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